Spacecraft orbiting the earth experience a reduced acceleration environment due to being in a state of continuous free-fall. This state colloquially termed microgravity, has produced improved X-ray diffraction quality crystals of biological macromolecules. Improvements in X-ray diffraction resolution (detail) or signal to noise, provide greater detail in the three-dimensional molecular structure providing information about the molecule, how it works, how to improve its function or how to impede it. Greater molecular detail obtained by crystallization in microgravity, has important implications for structural biology. In this article we examine the theories behind macromolecule crystal quality improvement in microgravity using results obtained from studies with the model protein, chicken egg white lysozyme.

Physicists in the lead of a fiction book or a play, that's a rare event! Writers in general do not understand physics, while physicists seldom have the talent of writing for a large audience. So when it happens, we should rejoice. The up-and-coming German author Juli Zeh [1] (1974), who studied law, has succeeded in combining beautiful prose, psychological drama, crime and physics in a challenging book `In freefall' [2]. A good friend of hers, Bettina Bruinier, has put the core message of the book into a compelling play in the `Volkstheater' in Munich [1]. Yes, it can be done.

The influence of exposure to the free-fall state on the orientation, morphogenesis, physiology, and radiation response of higher plants is briefly summarized. It is proposed that the duration of the space-flight experiments has been to brief to permit meaningful effects of freefall on general biochemistry, growth, and development to appear. However, two types of significant effect did occur. The first is on differential growth - i.e., tropism and epinasty - resulting from the absence of a normal geostimulus. For these phenomena it is suggested that ground-based experiments with the clinostat would suffice to mimic the effect of the free-fall state. The second is an apparent interaction between the radiation response and some flight condition, yielding an enhanced microspore abortion, a disturbed spindle function, and a stunting of stamen hairs. It is suggested that this apparent interaction may be derived from a shift in the rhythm of the cell cycle, induced by the freefall.

The possible detection in space and in different freefall system of the tidal effects via a Riemann pendulum rate, is considered. The possibility to perform such an experiment for educational purpouse by a Moire' or Holographic double exposure detection is described. The International Space Station may obtain high quality test of 3D Riemann pendulum effects.

Crystallization remains the bottleneck in the crystallographic process leading from a gene to a three-dimensional model of the encoded protein or RNA. Automation of the individual steps of a crystallization experiment, from the preparation of crystallization cocktails for initial or optimization screens to the imaging of the experiments, has been the response to address this issue. Today, large high-throughput crystallization facilities, many of them open to the general user community, are capable of setting up thousands of crystallization trials per day. It is thus possible to test multiple constructs of each target for their ability to form crystals on a production-line basis. This has improved success rates and made crystallization much more convenient. High-throughput crystallization, however, cannot relieve users of the task of producing samples of high quality. Moreover, the time gained from eliminating manual preparations must now be invested in the careful evaluation of the increased number of experiments. The latter requires a sophisticated data and laboratory information-management system. A review of the current state of automation at the individual steps of crystallization with specific attention to the automation of optimization is given. PMID:24915074

Crystallization remains the bottleneck in the crystallographic process leading from a gene to a three-dimensional model of the encoded protein or RNA. Automation of the individual steps of a crystallization experiment, from the preparation of crystallization cocktails for initial or optimization screens to the imaging of the experiments, has been the response to address this issue. Today, large high-throughput crystallization facilities, many of them open to the general user community, are capable of setting up thousands of crystallization trials per day. It is thus possible to test multiple constructs of each target for their ability to form crystals on a production-line basis. This has improved success rates and made crystallization much more convenient. High-throughput crystallization, however, cannot relieve users of the task of producing samples of high quality. Moreover, the time gained from eliminating manual preparations must now be invested in the careful evaluation of the increased number of experiments. The latter requires a sophisticated data and laboratory information-management system. A review of the current state of automation at the individual steps of crystallization with specific attention to the automation of optimization is given.

Beverloo's law describes the flow rate of grains discharging from hoppers, where the assumption of a free-fall arch (FFA) is very useful in understanding the physical picture of this process. The FFA has been observed in previous experiments but a clear systematic study of the FFA is still necessary. In this paper, dense granular flow in hoppers was studied by numerical simulations, in attempts to explore the free-fall region and its boundary. Generally, the numerical simulation results support the free-fall arch assumption, although the statistical description of the FFA is not exactly equivalent to its strict definition.

Trampolines can be found in many gardens and also in some playgrounds. They offer an easily accessible vertical motion that includes freefall. In this work, the motion on a trampoline is modelled by assuming a linear relation between force and deflection, giving harmonic oscillations for small amplitudes. An expression for the cycle-time is…

Freefalling hypersurfaces in the Schwarzschild geometry have been studied to provide a complete foliation of spacetime. The hypersurfaces do not cross into the maximally extended spacetime and are well behaved everywhere except at the singularity r = 0 the mean extrinsic curvature becomes infinity.

This paper describes theoretical calculation of the terminal velocity of falling cat, taking the air drag into account. The results show that a fall from the seventh floor is critical for the cat so we introduce a new quantity called the ‘coefficient of the cat’s fear’ during freefall. A subsequent experiment with a model of a cat carrying the accelerometer confirmed this conclusion. This calculation and experiment can act as a strong motivational factor during introductory physics courses.

Doubly special relativity (DSR) is an effective model for encoding quantum gravity in flat spacetime. To incorporate DSR into general relativity, one could use "gravity's rainbow," where the spacetime background felt by a test particle would depend on its energy. In this scenario, one could rewrite the rainbow metric gμ ν(E ) in terms of some orthonormal frame fields and use the modified equivalence principle to determine the energy dependence of gμ ν(E ) . Obviously, the form of gμ ν(E ) depends on the choice of the orthonormal frame. For a static black hole, there are two natural orthonormal frames: the static one hovering above it and the freely falling one along geodesics. The cases with the static orthonormal frame have been extensively studied by many authors. The aim of this paper is to investigate properties of rainbow black holes in the scenario with the free-fall orthonormal frame. We first derive the metric of rainbow black holes and their Hawking temperatures in this free-fall scenario. Then, the thermodynamics of a rainbow Schwarzschild black hole is studied. Finally, we use the brick wall model to compute the thermal entropy of a massless scalar field near the horizon of a Schwarzschild rainbow black hole in this free-fall scenario.

Freefall has signed the greatest markings in the history of physics through the leaning Pisa tower, the Woolsthorpe apple tree and the Einstein lift. The perspectives offered by the capture of stars by supermassive black holes are to be cherished, because the study of the motion of falling stars will constitute a giant step forward in the understanding of gravitation in the regime of strong field. After an account on the perception of freefall in ancient times and on the behaviour of a gravitating mass in Newtonian physics, this chapter deals with last century debate on the repulsion for a Schwarzschild-Droste black hole and mentions the issue of an infalling particle velocity at the horizon. Further, black hole perturbations and numerical methods are presented, paving the way to the introduction of the self-force and other back-action related methods. The impact of the perturbations on the motion of the falling particle is computed via the tail, the back-scattered part of the perturbations, or via a radiative Green function. In the former approach, the self-force acts upon the background geodesic; in the latter, the geodesic is conceived in the total (background plus perturbations) field. Regularisation techniques (mode-sum and Riemann-Hurwitz z function) intervene to cancel divergencies coming from the infinitesimal size of the particle. An account is given on the state of the art, including the last results obtained in this most classical problem, together with a perspective encompassing future space gravitational wave interferometry and head-on particle physics experiments. As freefall is patently non-adiabatic, it requires the most sophisticated techniques for studying the evolution of the motion. In this scenario, the potential of the self-consistent approach, by means of which the background geodesic is continuously corrected by the self-force contribution, is examined.

Abstract GOCE, ESA's first Earth gravity mission, is currently to be launched early in 2009 into a sun-synchronous orbit. Using the full-scale numerical propagator, we investigated the satellite's freefall from the initial injection altitude of 280km down to the first measurement phase altitude (at 264km). During this decay phase the satellite will pass below the 16:1 resonance (268.4km). The effect of this resonance, together with the uncertainty in the solar activity prediction,...

The freefall trajectories of flat plates are investigated in order to improve understanding of the forces acting on falling blunt objects. The long term goal is to develop a general applicable model to predict freefall trajectories. Numerically the freefall of a flat plate is investigated usin...

Freefall has signed the greatest markings in the history of physics through the leaning Pisa tower, the Cambridge apple tree and the Einstein lift. The perspectives offered by the capture of stars by supermassive black holes are to be cherished, because the study of the motion of falling stars will constitute a giant step forward in the understanding of gravitation in the regime of strong field. After an account on the perception of freefall in ancient times and on the behaviour of a gravitating mass in Newtonian physics, this chapter deals with last century debate on the repulsion for a Schwarzschild black hole and mentions the issue of an infalling particle velocity at the horizon. Further, black hole perturbations and numerical methods are presented, paving the way to the introduction of the self-force and other back-action related methods. The impact of the perturbations on the motion of the falling particle is computed via the tail, the back-scattered part of the perturbations, or via a radiative Green...

Motivated by various hydrological and meteorological applications, this paper investigates the freefall of water drops to provide guidance in laboratory simulations of natural rainfall and to elucidate drop morphodynamics. Drop fall velocity and shape parameters such as axis ratio (ratio of the maximum vertical and horizontal chords of the drop), chord ratio [ratio of the two orthogonal chords where one chord (cl) is the longest chord in the drop and the other one (cs) is the longest chord that is orthogonal to cl], canting angle (angle between the longest chord of the drop and the horizontal axis), and relative fluctuation of chords (difference between vertical and horizontal chord fluctuations) were investigated for three selected water drop sizes (2.6, 3.7, and 5.1 mm spherical volume equivalent diameter) using high speed imaging. Based upon experimental observations, three distinct fall zones were identified: Zone I, in which source-induced oscillations and shape adjustment take place; Zone II, in which equilibrium-shaped drops accelerate to achieve terminal velocity; and Zone III, in which equilibrium-shaped drops fall at terminal velocity. Our results revealed that the fall distance values of approximately 6 m and 12 m can be used as conservative reference values for rainfall experiments with oscillation-freefall of drops (i.e. end of Zone I and onset of Zone II) and with equilibrium-shaped drops falling at terminal velocities (i.e. end of Zone II and onset of Zone III), respectively, for the entire raindrop size spectrum in natural rainfall. These required fall distance values are smaller than the distances discussed in the literature. Methodology and results presented here will facilitate optimum experimental laboratory simulations of natural rainfall.

The elucidation of the three dimensional structure of biological macromolecules has provided an important contribution to our current understanding of many basic mechanisms involved in life processes. This enormous impact largely results from the ability of X-ray crystallography to provide accurate structural details at atomic resolution that are a prerequisite for a deeper insight on the way in which bio-macromolecules interact with each other to build up supramolecular nano-machines capable of performing specialized biological functions. With the advent of high-energy synchrotron sources and the development of sophisticated software to solve X-ray and neutron crystal structures of large molecules, the crystallization step has become even more the bottleneck of a successful structure determination. This review introduces the general aspects of protein crystallization, summarizes conventional and innovative crystallization methods and focuses on the new strategies utilized to improve the success rate of experiments and increase crystal diffraction quality. PMID:23727935

Owing to Earth's rotation a free-fall body would move in an elliptical orbit rather than along a straight line forward to the center of the Earth. In this paper on the basis of the theory for spin-spin coupling between macroscopic rotating bodies we study violation of the equivalence principle from long-distance free-fall experiments by means of a rotating ball and a non-rotating sell. For the free-fall time of 40 seconds, the difference between the orbits of the two free-fall bodies is of th...

GOCE, ESA's first Earth gravity mission, is currently to be launched early in 2009 into a sun-synchronous orbit. Using the full-scale numerical propagator, we investigated the satellite's freefall from the initial injection altitude of 280 km down to the first measurement phase altitude (at 264 km). During this decay phase the satellite will pass below the 16:1 resonance (268.4 km). The effect of this resonance, together with the uncertainty in the solar activity prediction, has a distinct impact on the evolution of the orbital elements. Then, to maintain a near-constant and extremely low altitude for the measurement operational phases, the satellite will use an ion thruster to compensate for the atmospheric drag. In order to obtain the groundtrack grid dense enough for a proper sampling of the gravitational field, ESA set constraints for a minimum groundtrack repeat period. We studied suitable repeat cycles (resonant orbits) in the vicinity of 16:1 resonance; we found that they differ greatly in stability towards small perturbations of the satellite's mean altitude and in temporal evolution of the groundtrack coverage. The results obtained from the usual analytical treatment of orbital resonances were refined by more realistic numerical simulations. Finally, we formulated suggestions that might be useful in GOCE orbit planning.

The MICROSCOPE mission is fully dedicated to the in-orbit test of the Universality of freefall, the so-called Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP), with an expected accuracy better than 10-15. The test principle consists in comparing the accelerations of two proof masses of different composition in the Earth gravitational field. The payload embarks two pairs of test-masses made of Platinum Rhodium and Titanium alloys at the core of two dedicated coaxial electrostatic accelerometers. These instruments are under qualification for a launch in 2016. Their operations are only possible in microgravity environment which makes its validation on ground a real issue. In Europe, only the drop tower of the ZARM Institute provides a facility for experiments under conditions of weightlessness and offers the experimental conditions to verify the correct functioning of the MICROSCOPE payload. The height of the tower limits the “free fall” experiment period to 4.72 s. Under this strong constraint, the demonstration of the capability to control the test masses of the two coaxial electrostatic accelerometers is challenging. This paper describes the complete experimental set up and in which condition the test has been performed, then an analysis of a drop result is given with its interpretations.

The electrostatic inertial sensors which compose the payload of the dedicated MICROSCOPE space mission include cylindrical test masses, made of different materials. Their orbital motion will be observed for the accurate test of the Universality of FreeFall, so performed with an ac-curacy of at least 10-15 . These Titanium and Platinum alloys concentric masses are maintained motion less at the center of a very accurate silica cage by means of electrostatic actuators which manage the electrical fields surrounding permanently the masses. Same gold coated electrodes are not only used for generating these electrical fields but also to measure any mass displace-ment with an accuracy better than 10-11 m by means of a well arranged set of capacitive sensors. The MICROSCOPE drag free satellite is controlled Earth pointing or rotating about the normal to the orbital plane with a very stable angular velocity. A very stringent control of the residual accelerations seen by the scientific payload itself is applied thanks to the drag free system, except the Earth common gravity field. At the selected circular orbit, with 810 km altitude and less than 5.10-3 eccentricity, the effects of the gravity gradients are carefully managed by mass centring and data corrections. On board thermal environment is also a key element of the detection of any violation of Einstein Equivalence Principle as most attempts of Grand Unification theories seem to conduct. An overview of the prepared mission is presented with the established strategies to deal with the space experiment specific challenges.

This article is a theoretical analysis of the cognitive freefall metaphor, used within the cognitive view, as model for explaining the communication process between a generator and receiver of a message. The aim is to demonstrate that the idea of a cognitive freefall taking place within this co...

In this study, the intuitive physics of freefall was explored using Information Integration Theory and Functional Measurement. The participants had to rate the speed of objects differing in mass and height of release at the end of an imagined freefall. According to physics, falling speed increases with height of release but it is substantially…

We discuss the Gaussian beam effect on the test of the equivalence principle using a free-fall interferometer.A two-lens assembly is used to improve the propagating character of the laser beam, and the beam radius is collimated to about 3.0 mm. The analysis shows that the gravity acceleration difference induced by the Gaussian beam effect could be less than 10-15 g for our double free-fall experimental design, but it would be 10-9 g for the absolute measurement of the gravity acceleration with the usual single free-fall method.

Owing to Earth's rotation a free-fall body would move in an elliptical orbit rather than along a straight line forward to the center of the Earth. In this paper on the basis of the theory for spin-spin coupling between macroscopic rotating bodies we study violation of the equivalence principle from long-distance free-fall experiments by means of a rotating ball and a non-rotating sell. For the free-fall time of 40 seconds, the difference between the orbits of the two free-fall bodies is of the order of 10^{-9}cm which could be detected by a SQUID magnetometer owing to such a magnetometer can be used to measure displacements as small as 10^{-13} centimeters.

Owing to Earth's rotation a free-fall body would move in an elliptical orbit rather than along a straight line forward to the center of the Earth. In this paper on the basis of the theory for spin-spin coupling between macroscopic rotating bodies we study violation of the equivalence principle from long-distance free-fall experiments by means of a rotating ball and a non-rotating shell. For the free-fall time of 40 s, the difference between the orbits of the two free-fall bodies is of the order of 10-9 cm which could be detected by an SQUID magnetometer because such a magnetometer can be used to measure displacements as small as 10-13 cm.

The use of the GiZero free-fall facility for testing the weak equivalence principle is discussed in this article. GiZero consists of a vacuum capsule, released from a balloon at an altitude of 40 km, which shields an experimental apparatus freefalling inside the capsule itself. The expected residual acceleration external to the detector is 10-12 g (with g the Earth's gravitational acceleration) for the 30 s freefall. A common-mode rejection factor of about 10-4 reduces the residual noise differential output to only 10-16 g. The gravity detector is a differential accelerometer with two test masses with coincident center of masses (i.e., zero baseline) with capacitive pick ups. Preparatory experiments have been conducted in the laboratory with a precursor detector by measuring controlled gravity signals, at low frequency, and by observing the Luni-Solar tides. The estimated accuracy in testing the weak equivalence principle, with a 95% confidence level, is 5×10-15 in a 30 s freefall. When compared to orbital free-fall experiments, the GiZero experiment can be considered as a valid compromise which is able to satisfy the requirement for improving significantly the experimental accuracy in testing the equivalence principle with a substantial lower cost, the ability to recover the detector and to repeat the experiment at relatively short time intervals.

An overview of microgravity crystallization explaining why microgravity is used, factors which affect crystallization, the method of crystallization and the environment itself. Also covered is how best to make use of microgravity and what the future might hold.

An overview of microgravity crystallization explaining why microgravity is used, factors which affect crystallization, the method of crystallization and the environment itself. Also covered is how best to make use of microgravity and what the future might hold.

Precision absolute gravity measurements are growing in importance, especially in the context of the new definition of the kilogram. For the case of free-fall absolute gravimeters with a Michelson-type interferometer tracking the position of a freefalling body, one of the effects that needs to be taken into account is the speed of light perturbation due to the finite speed of propagation of light. This effect has been extensively discussed in the past, and there is at present a disagreement between different studies. In this work, we present the analysis of new data and confirm the result expected from the theoretical analysis applied nowadays in free-fall gravimeters. We also review the standard derivations of this effect (by using phase shift or Doppler effect arguments) and show their equivalence.

Precision absolute gravity measurements are growing in importance, especially in the context of the new definition of the kilogram. For the case of freefall absolute gravimeters with a Michelson-type interferometer tracking the position of a freefalling body, one of the effects that needs to be taken into account is the ‘speed of light perturbation’ due to the finite speed of propagation of light. This effect has been extensively discussed in the past, and there is at present a disagreement between different studies. In this work, we present the analysis of new data and confirm the result expected from the theoretical analysis applied nowadays in free-fall gravimeters. We also review the standard derivations of this effect (by using phase shift or Doppler effect arguments) and show their equivalence.

Different experiments are ongoing to measure the effect of gravity on cold neutral antimatter atoms such as positronium, muonium and antihydrogen. Among those, the project GBAR in CERN aims to measure precisely the gravitational fall of ultracold antihydrogen atoms. In the ultracold regime, the interaction of antihydrogen atoms with a surface is governed by the phenomenon of quantum reflection which results in bouncing of antihydrogen atoms on matter surfaces. This allows the application of a filtering scheme to increase the precision of the freefall measurement. In the ultimate limit of smallest vertical velocities, antihydrogen atoms are settled in gravitational quantum states in close analogy to ultracold neutrons (UCNs). Positronium is another neutral system involving antimatter for which freefall under gravity is currently being investigated at UCL. Building on the experimental techniques under development for the freefall measurement, gravitational quantum states could also be observed in positronium...

Periodic solutions of the general free-fall three-body problem are investigated for the case of equal masses. The initial conditions are chosen on a Hill surface in form space. The use of the form space reduces the dimension of the problem and makes it possible to represent the region of possible initial conditions on the Hill surface, together with a color scale. The regions obtained can be used to improve the precision of the initial conditions for the periodic orbits in the free-fall three-body problem.

LISA Pathfinder is the technological demonstrator space mission for the future gravitational waves observatory in space eLISA, with the aim of measure the differential acceleration between free-falling test masses orbiting in the same apparatus at a level of 30 fm/s-2Hz-1/2 at 1 mHz. Because the satellite can't follow the two masses at the same time, the second mass must be forced to follow either the other one or the spacecraft. The actuation force applied to compensate this effect introduces a dominant source of force noise in the mission noise budget at frequency near and below the mHz. The free-fall mode actuation control scheme has been designed to suppress this noise source and avoid actuation instabilities: actuation is limited to brief periodic impulses, with test masses in freefall in between two kicks. This actuation-free motion is then analyzed for the remaining sources of acceleration ultra noise. A free-fall mode parallel testing has been successfully implemented on torsion pendulum facility at ...

The flight trajectory of a water rocket can be reasonably calculated if the magnitude of the drag coefficient is known. The experimental determination of this coefficient with enough precision is usually quite difficult, but in this paper we propose a simple free-fall experiment for undergraduate students to reasonably estimate the drag…

This article is the first of a two-part review of research on children's and adults understanding of gravity and on how best to teach gravity concepts to students and teachers. This first article concerns freefall--how and why objects fall when they are dropped. The review begins with a brief historical sketch of how these ideas were developed in…

Odor nuisance and sulfide corrosion in sewers carrying septic wastewater are accelerated at points of turbulence such as drops in manholes, but accurate methods or empirical expressions to evaluate the gas stripping rate at those particular sites are still missing. With the aim of improving the current knowledge on the influence of free-fall drops on the release of hydrogen sulfide gas, an experimental set-up was built allowing different free-fall drops heights and flows. Three types of experiments were carried out: reaeration tests without sulfide; sulfide oxidation tests; and hydrogen sulfide release tests. With the increase of the free-fall drop height or of the flow, a higher rate of air-to-water mass oxygen transfer was observed. Results regarding sulfide oxidation tests with reaeration through the free-fall have shown that the oxidation rate was correlated with flow. In the hydrogen sulfide release tests, the maximum concentration in the atmosphere reached 500 ppm. Results also showed that increasing the flow rate decreased the time at which the maximum concentrations in the atmosphere were observed.

A partially unusual behaviour was found among 14 sophomore students of civil engineering who took a pre test for a freefall laboratory session, in the context of a general mechanics course. An analysis contemplating mathematics models and physics models consistency was made. In all cases, the students presented evidence favoring a correct free…

This paper reports the use of Tracker as a computer-based learning tool to support effective learning and teaching of "toss up" and freefall motion for beginning secondary three (15?year-old) students. The case study involved (N = 123) students from express pure physics classes at a mainstream school in Singapore. We used eight…

This paper reports the use of Tracker as a computer-based learning tool to support effective learning and teaching of "toss up" and freefall motion for beginning secondary three (15?year-old) students. The case study involved (N = 123) students from express pure physics classes at a mainstream school in Singapore. We used eight…

Textures of calcite crystals from a variety of mineralized tissues belong to organisms from four phyla were examined with high-resolution synchrotron x-ray radiation. Significant differences in coherence length and angular spread were observed between taxonomic groups. Crystals from polycrystalline skeletal ensembles were more perfect than those that function as single-crystal elements. Different anistropic effects on crystal texture were observed for sea urchin and mollusk calcite crystals, whereas none was found for the foraminifer, Patellina, and the control calcite crystals. These results show that the manipulation of crystal texture in different organisms is under biological control and that crystal textures in some tissues are adapted to function. A better understanding of this apparently widespread biological phenomenon may provide new insights for improving synthetic crystal-containing materials. 18 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.

In this paper we examine the possibilities for detecting the freefall of Rydberg positronium atoms. In our scheme, cold positronium atoms are emitted from a 'point' source and excited to the n=25 circular Rydberg state with L=n-1. The positronium atoms are allowed to travel horizontally 10 m in a field free vacuum and focused onto a detector using an elliptical Van der Waals mirror. A freefall distance of order 50 {mu}m and a few detected atoms per hour are anticipated. Various extraneous influences on the positronium, such as collisions with residual gas atoms, Stark mixing in stray electric and magnetic fields, photoionization due to thermal radiation, and accelerations due to patch potentials are estimated.

On gravity's rainbow, the energy of test particles deforms the geometry of a black hole in such a way that the corresponding Hawking temperature is expected to be modified. It means that the fiducial and free-fall temperatures on the black hole background should also be modified according to deformation of the geometry. In this work, the probing energy of test particles is assumed as the average energy of the Hawking particle in order to study the particle back reaction of the geometry by using the advantage of gravity's rainbow. We shall obtain the modified fiducial and free-fall temperatures, respectively. The behaviors of these two temperatures on the horizon tell us that black hole complementarity is still well defined on gravity's rainbow. (orig.)

Results of measurements of freefalling acceleration of a closed container with a rotor of a mechanical gyroscope placed inside it on the frequency of the rotor rotation are briefly described. Time of separate accelerations measurements is 40 ms, the period of sampling is from 0.5 up to 1.0 minute. In rotation's frequencies range of 20-400 Hz, the negative changes of freefalling container acceleration prevail. On individual frequencies the "resonant" maxima and minima of acceleration are observed. The obtained data apparently contradict the equivalence principle of inertial and gravitating masses. The expediency of development of ballistic gravimetry of high time resolution with use of rotating or oscillating test bodies is noted.

We report a test of the universality of freefall (UFF) related to spin-gravity coupling effects by comparing the gravity acceleration of the $^{87}$Rb atoms in $m_F=+1$ versus that in $m_F=-1$, where the corresponding spin orientations are opposite. A Mach-Zehnder-type atom interferometer is exploited to sequentially measure the freefall acceleration of the atoms in these two sublevels, and the resultant E$\\rm{\\ddot{o}}$tv$\\rm{\\ddot{o}}$s ratio determined by this work is ${\\eta_S} =(-0.2\\pm1.5)\\times 10^{-5}$. The interferometer using atoms in $m_F=+1$ or $m_F=-1$ is highly sensitive to magnetic field inhomogeneity, which limits the current experimental precision of our UFF test. The work here provides a stepping stone for future higher precision UFF test related to different spin orientations on atomic basis.

We consider the spatial isosceles three-body problem where two masses are equal and the other may be different. We discuss free-fall orbits in the planar case and show that there exists a countable family of orbits converging to triple collisions forward and backward in time. In Devaney's coordinates, the orbits correspond to topologically transverse heteroclinic orbits between equilibria on the collision manifold in the blown-up equations (Theorem 1.1). By the "window...

Galilei presented the kinematics of a one-dimensional accelerated motion with ease and in terms of elegant geometry. Moreover, he believed, "Philosophy [i.e. physics] is written in this grand book—I mean the universe—which stands continually open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and interpret the characters in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it." In classroom practice, however, it can be difficult to reveal this mathematical heart of nature; freefall and other accelerated motions often get obscured by friction or other sources of errors. In this paper, we introduce a method of analyzing free-fall motion indirectly by evaluating the noise of freely falling metal pieces. The method connects a deeper understanding of the mathematical structure of accelerated motion with the possibility to derive a numerical value for the free-fall acceleration g.

Full Text Available Different experiments are ongoing to measure the effect of gravity on cold neutral antimatter atoms such as positronium, muonium, and antihydrogen. Among those, the project GBAR at CERN aims to measure precisely the gravitational fall of ultracold antihydrogen atoms. In the ultracold regime, the interaction of antihydrogen atoms with a surface is governed by the phenomenon of quantum reflection which results in bouncing of antihydrogen atoms on matter surfaces. This allows the application of a filtering scheme to increase the precision of the freefall measurement. In the ultimate limit of smallest vertical velocities, antihydrogen atoms are settled in gravitational quantum states in close analogy to ultracold neutrons (UCNs. Positronium is another neutral system involving antimatter for which freefall under gravity is currently being investigated at UCL. Building on the experimental techniques under development for the freefall measurement, gravitational quantum states could also be observed in positronium. In this contribution, we report on the status of the ongoing experiments and discuss the prospects of observing gravitational quantum states of antimatter and their implications.

ONERA is developing since a long time accelerometers for space applications in the field of Earth Observations and Fundamental Physics. The more recent examples are the accelerom-eters embarked on the ESA GOCE mission launched in March 2009, dedicated to the Earth precise gravity field mapping, and the accelerometers of the CNES MICROSCOPE mission dedicated to the in orbit test of the Equivalence Principle. Those Ultra sensitive accelerome-ters are optimised for the space environment and operate over an acceleration range less than 10-6 ms-2 with an outstanding accuracy around 10-12 ms-2Hz1/2. Their testability on ground requires creating a low gravity environment in order to verify their functionalities and partially their performances before their delivery before launch. Freefall tests are the only way to ob-tain such a microgravity environment in representating space conditions. The presentation will show in a first part the results of the freefall test campaigns performed in the 120-meter high ZARM drop tower that have led to the qualification of the GOCE accelerometers. In a second part, it will describe the test plan being conducted to assess the best free-fall environment for the MICROSCOPE accelerometers. In particular, some efforts have been paid by ZARM and ONERA to develop a dedicated "free-flyer"capsule, in order to reduce the residual drag acceleration along the fall. Some results from the preliminary tests performed in preparation to the MICROSCOPE qualification campaign will be also presented.

Full Text Available We conducted an experimental study of a heated substrate wetting by drops of distilled water under the conditions of their free-falling. The studies were conducted using a shadow system, which consists of a light source, lens and high-speed video camera. It was found that the maximum wetted area of drop is directly proportional to its volume. The main ranges of evolution of distilled water drop behavior on the heated surface (change of geometry at contact with the surface have been conditionally divided.

Consistent optical and acoustic techniques have been used to study the structure of hydrodynamic disturbances and acoustic signals generated as a freefalling drop penetrates water. The relationship between the structures of hydrodynamic and acoustic perturbations arising as a result of a falling drop contacting with the water surface and subsequent immersion into water is traced. The primary acoustic signal is characterized, in addition to stably reproduced features (steep leading edge followed by long decay with local pressure maxima), by irregular high-frequency packets, which are studied for the first time. Reproducible experimental data are used to recognize constant and variable components of the primary acoustic signal.

this communication process leads to apparent theoretical paradoxes, that partly is fostered by unclear definitions of key information science concepts, namely tokens, signs, information and knowledge, and there interrelatedness, and a naïve theoretical framework. The article promote a semeiotically inspired model...... of communication, that demonstrate that what takes place in communication, is not a cognitive freefall, but rather a fall from a pragmatic level of knowing or knowledge to a level of representation or information. The article furthermore argue that the communication process more ideally can be expressed...

A quasi-static analysis is performed for the thermocapillary motion of a bubble located inside a drop in freefall, with arbitrary axisymmetric temperature fields prescribed on the drop surface. It is shown that in the case of an axially symmetric temperature field, the bubble moves along the axis of symmetry toward the nearest warm pole. The bubble velocity as well as the velocity and temperature fields in the drop can be predicted on the basis of the quasi-static assumptions. An approximation is presented which adequately describes bubble migration velocities in the case where the ratio of the bubble radius to the drop radius is relatively small.

Falls from great height are suicidal in most cases. Any antecedent trauma that would indicate an involvement of a third party should, however, be excluded in each case. Herein lies the difficulty in such cases since injuries prior to the fall which could be of criminal nature may be masked by the impact injuries. Injuries on unexposed parts of the body should always raise the suspicion of an involvement of a third party. This applies especially for neck injuries. By a retrospective analysis of 132 cases of falls from great height, the authors conclude, however, that neck injuries may occur after freefall from great height on a flat surface without antecedent trauma.

We report a test of the universality of freefall (UFF) by comparing the gravity acceleration of the $^{87}$Rb atoms in $m_F=+1$ versus that in $m_F=-1$, where the corresponding spin orientations are opposite. A Mach-Zehnder-type atom interferometer is exploited to sequentially measure the freefall acceleration of the atoms in these two magnetic sublevels, and the resultant E$\\rm{\\ddot{o}}$tv$\\rm{\\ddot{o}}$s ratio is ${\\eta _S} =(0.2\\pm1.2)\\times 10^{-7}$. This also gives an upper limit of $1.1\\times 10^{-21}$ GeV/m for possible gradient field of the spacetime torsion. The interferometer using atoms in $m_F=\\pm 1$ is highly sensitive to the magnetic field inhomogeneity, and a double differential measurement method is developed to alleviate the inhomogeneity influence. Moreover, a proof experiment by modulating the magnetic field is performed, which validates the alleviation of the inhomogeneity influence in our test.

Full Text Available For better discussing and understanding the physical phenomena and body-fluid interaction of water-entry problem, here mechanical-energy transport (wedge, fluid, and each other of water-entry model for freefalling wedge is studied by numerical method based on free surface capturing method and Cartesian cut cell mesh. In this method, incompressible Euler equations for a variable density fluid are numerically calculated by the finite volume method. Then artificial compressibility method, dual-time stepping technique, and Roe's approximate Riemann solver are applied in the numerical scheme. Furthermore, the projection method of momentum equations and exact Riemann solution are used to calculate the fluid pressure on solid boundary. On this basis, during water-entry phase of the free-falling wedge, macroscopic energy conversion of overall body-fluid system and microscopic energy transformation in fluid field are analyzed and discussed. Finally, based on test cases, many useful conclusions about mechanical energy transport for water entry problem are made and presented.

This paper reports the use of Tracker as a pedagogical tool in supporting effective learning and teaching of toss up and freefall motion for beginning grade 9 students. This is a case study with (N=123) students of express-pure physics classes in a mainstream school in Singapore where we used a 8 multi-choice questions as a proxy to assess learning gains in pre and posttest to gauge the impact on learning. We found within experimental group gains with Cohens effect size d = 0.79 error 0.23 (large effect) and normalized gains with a gradient of g total = 0.42 error 0.08 (medium gain) above the traditional baseline value of g non interactive=0.23 for all the 6 teachers, 3 classes of students who participated in this study. Initial research findings suggest that allowing learners to relate abstract physics concepts to real life through coupling traditional video analysis and eventually video modeling could be an innovative and effective way to learn freefall motion. Finally, we discuss the pedagogical use of T...

We report the first results of the LISA Pathfinder in-flight experiment. The results demonstrate that two free-falling reference test masses, such as those needed for a space-based gravitational wave observatory like LISA, can be put in freefall with a relative acceleration noise with a square root of the power spectral density of 5.2 ±0.1 fm s-2/√{Hz } , or (0.54 ±0.01 ) ×10-15 g/√{Hz } , with g the standard gravity, for frequencies between 0.7 and 20 mHz. This value is lower than the LISA Pathfinder requirement by more than a factor 5 and within a factor 1.25 of the requirement for the LISA mission, and is compatible with Brownian noise from viscous damping due to the residual gas surrounding the test masses. Above 60 mHz the acceleration noise is dominated by interferometer displacement readout noise at a level of (34.8 ±0.3 ) fm /√{Hz } , about 2 orders of magnitude better than requirements. At f ≤0.5 mHz we observe a low-frequency tail that stays below 12 fm s-2/√{Hz } down to 0.1 mHz. This performance would allow for a space-based gravitational wave observatory with a sensitivity close to what was originally foreseen for LISA.

This paper reports the use of Tracker as a computer-based learning tool to support effective learning and teaching of ‘toss up’ and freefall motion for beginning secondary three (15 year-old) students. The case study involved (N = 123) students from express pure physics classes at a mainstream school in Singapore. We used eight multiple-choice questions pre- and post-test to gauge the impact on learning. The experimental group showed learning gains of d = 0.79 ± 0.23 (large effect) for Cohen’s d effect size analysis, and gains with a gradient of total = 0.42 ± 0.08 (medium gain) above the traditional baseline value of non interactive = 0.23 for Hake’s normalized gain regression analysis. This applied to all of the teachers and students who participated in this study. Our initial research findings suggest that allowing learners to relate abstract physics concepts to real life through coupling traditional video analysis with video modelling might be an innovative and effective method for teaching and learning about freefall motion.

Full Text Available Pyrolysis of biomass including palm shell, palm kernel, and cassava pulp residue was studied in a laboratory free-fall reactor with three separated hot zones. The effects of pyrolysis temperature (250–1050°C and particle size (0.18–1.55 mm on the distribution and properties of pyrolysis products were investigated. A higher pyrolysis temperature and smaller particle size increased the gas yield but decreased the char yield. Cassava pulp residue gave more volatiles and less char than those of palm kernel and palm shell. The derived solid product (char gave a high calorific value of 29.87 MJ/kg and a reasonably high BET surface area of 200 m2/g. The biooil from palm shell is less attractive to use as a direct fuel, due to its high water contents, low calorific value, and high acidity. On gas composition, carbon monoxide was the dominant component in the gas product. A pyrolysis model for biomass pyrolysis in the free-fall reactor was developed, based on solving the proposed two-parallel reactions kinetic model and equations of particle motion, which gave excellent prediction of char yields for all biomass precursors under all pyrolysis conditions studied.

The LISA Pathfinder geodesic explorer mission for gravitational wave astronomy aims to demonstrate the proof of a low acceleration noise level. The relative acceleration between two test masses freefalling in orbit is perturbed by the presence of a larger constant relative acceleration that must be actively compensated in order to keep the test particles centered inside an orbiting apparatus. The actuation force applied to compensate this effect introduces a dominant source of force noise. To suppress this noise source, a “free-fall” actuation control scheme has been designed: actuation is limited to brief impulses, with test masses in freefall in between two “kicks”, with this actuation-free motion then analyzed for the remaining sources of acceleration ultra noise. In this work, we will discuss and present preliminary data for an on-ground torsion pendulum experiment to test this technique, and the associated analysis algorithms, at a level nearing the sub-femto-g/sqrt(Hz) performance required for LISA Pathfinder.

In this paper we discuss the effect of microgravity on T cells and we present the data of studies with two new machines for 0 g simulations. Several experiments in space show that mitogenic T cell activation is lost at 0 g. Immunocytochemistry indicates that such effect is associated with changes of the cytoskeleton. Biochemical studies suggest that the lack of expression of the interleukin-2 receptor is one of the major causes of the loss of activity. In fact, interleukin-2 is the third signal required for full activation. In order to deepen our investigations we are now working with the free-fall machine, FFM, invented by D. Mesland, and with the random positioning machine, RPM, or three-dimensional clinostat, developed by T. Hoson. The FFM produces periods of free-fall lasting approximately 800 ms followed by bounces of 15-30 g lasting 45-60 ms. The RPM eliminates the effect of gravity by rotating biological specimen randomly around two orthogonal axes. While the FFM failed to reproduce the results obtained with T lymphocytes in space, the data from the RPM are in good agreement with those in real microgravity. In fact, the inhibition of the mitotic index in the RPM is 89% compared to static controls. The RPM (as the FFM) can carry markedly larger specimen than the fast rotating clinostat and thus allows to conduct comprehensive studies to select suitable biological objects for further investigations in space.

The use of arsenic is banned for most applications, leading to its accumulation as arsenic trioxide and ferric arsenate sludge. The aim of this thesis was to develop a controlled process for biologicalcrystallization of scorodite from metallurgical streams. In this thesis, the proof of principle,

A fuel rod failed during a power transient can be seen in Fig 1. and conjunction of a chipped pellet with a cladding crack has been observed in commercial reactors through the post-irradiation examinations. It revealed that missing-pellet-surface(MPS) was one of the reasons of the fuel failure. The mechanism of this failure mode that MPS induces the asymmetry of the pellet-cladding mechanical system mainly comprises a stress concentration at the inner surface resulting in non-classical PCI. The fracture toughness is largely close to material property. It is assumed that by optimizing surface design of UO{sub 2} pellet, the strength arises because theoretical strength is considerably affected by geometry as one of a parameter of factor 'f'. Pellet research for design optimization to achieve better resistance to external load should be accompanied with volumetric approach to the improvement of mechanical behavior of pellet being still ongoing. At this work, the resistance to external load is analyzed varying with the geometry of pellets and angles of impact on UO{sub 2} pellet surface by the free-fall-impact test method. The tested specimens were equivalently produced and sintered for having the same volumetric property such as sinter density and grain size expect the surface with different geometry design at the end face and shoulder which includes dish, chamfer and land in dimension and angle. Missing-pellet-surface(MPS) on UO{sub 2} pellet is inevitable behavior during manufacturing, handling and burning in reactor and brings about non-classical PCI behavior that could damage fuel rod integrity. For this reason, the free-fall-drop tester was developed by KEPCO NF Material Development laboratory in Daejeon for quantitatively investigating the mechanical behavior of UO{sub 2}. The free-fall-impact test is performed by dropping hammer on pellet shoulder with certain impact energy and at various angles. The result is quantitatively measured with weighing

Full Text Available We describe here a new instrument for imaging hydrometeors in freefall. The Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera (MASC captures high-resolution photographs of hydrometeors from three angles while simultaneously measuring their fall speed. Based on the stereoscopic photographs captured over the two months of continuous measurements obtained at a high altitude location within the Wasatch Front in Utah, we derive statistics for fall speed, hydrometeor size, shape, orientation and aspect ratio. From a selection of the photographed hydrometeors, an illustration is provided for how the instrument might be used for making improved microwave scattering calculations. Complex, aggregated snowflake shapes appear to be more strongly forward scattering, at the expense of reduced back-scatter, than heavily rimed graupel particles of similar size.

A comparison between the two possible variational principles for the study of a freefalling spinless particle in a space-time with torsion is noted. It is well known that the autoparallel trajectories can be obtained from a variational principle based on a non-holonomic mapping, starting with the standard world-line action. In a contrast, we explore a world-line action with a modified metric, thinking about the old idea of contorsion (torsion) potentials. A fixed-ends variational principle can reproduce autoparallel trajectories without restrictions on space-time torsion. As an illustration we have considered a perturbative Weitzenb$\\ddot{o}$ck space-time. The non-perturbative problem is stablished at the end.

On-ground verification of the precision with which a test mass can be in perfect free-fall, without any stray forces, is among the most challenging aspects of preparing for LISA and LISA Pathfinder. This study aims at improving the sensitivity in torsion pendulum measurements of the stray forces arising in the interaction between a test mass and the capacitive position sensor that surrounds it. Measurements are performed with pendulum suspensions based on both tungsten and higher quality factor uncoated fused silica torsion fibers. The results achieved with the fused silica pendulum establish more stringent upper limits on the excess force noise attributable to the sensor—at a level that roughly coincides with the LISA Pathfinder flight goal around 1 mHz. Additionally, these measurements demonstrate a force sensitivity improvement over what can be achieved with thermal noise-limited tungsten over a wide range of frequencies, with significant further improvements still possible.

The theory of general relativity describes macroscopic phenomena driven by the influence of gravity while quantum mechanics brilliantly accounts for microscopic effects. Despite their tremendous individual success, a complete unification of fundamental interactions is missing and remains one of the most challenging and important quests in modern theoretical physics. The STE-QUEST satellite mission, proposed as a medium-size mission within the Cosmic Vision program of the European Space Agency (ESA), aims for testing general relativity with high precision in two experiments by performing a measurement of the gravitational redshift of the Sun and the Moon by comparing terrestrial clocks, and by performing a test of the Universality of FreeFall of matter waves in the gravitational field of Earth comparing the trajectory of two Bose-Einstein condensates of Rb85 and Rb87. The two ultracold atom clouds are monitored very precisely thanks to techniques of atom interferometry. This allows to reach down to an uncerta...

Using the symbols and symbol sequences along the orbits introduced in our preceding work, we numerically study the orbital structure of the free-fall three-body problem. We confirm and re-interpret the results obtained by us before. We describe the overall structure of the plane. It turns out that the structures of the initial condition plane can be systematically obtained with symbol sequences. Then, we obtain the structure of two interesting local regions: the isosceles and collinear boundaries of the plane. We present sequences of triple collision orbits and periodic orbits on these boundaries. We additionally argue that stable and/or unstable manifolds of the two-body collision manifolds connect different triple collision manifolds.

A numerical procedure to systematically find collision orbits in the planar three-body problem has been developed in the preceding paper (Tanikawa et al., 1995). Using this procedure, a search for binary and triple collision orbits has been carried out in the free-fall three-body problem. Some detailed structures of a part of the initial value space are discussed. Various interesting orbits have been found. Examples are oscillatory orbits in which ejected particles change from ejection to ejection, and orbits which are not isosceles initially but nearly isosceles after escape. Some results of isosceles problems (Simó and Martínez, 1988) are extended to non-isosceles problems.

The main goal of the AEgIS experiment at CERN is to test the weak equivalence principle for antimatter. AEgIS will measure the free-fall of an antihydrogen beam traversing a moir\\'e deflectometer. The goal is to determine the gravitational acceleration g for antihydrogen with an initial relative accuracy of 1% by using an emulsion detector combined with a silicon micro-strip detector to measure the time of flight. Nuclear emulsions can measure the annihilation vertex of antihydrogen atoms with a precision of about 1 - 2 microns r.m.s. We present here results for emulsion detectors operated in vacuum using low energy antiprotons from the CERN antiproton decelerator. We compare with Monte Carlo simulations, and discuss the impact on the AEgIS project.

A series of novel diester cyclophanes was synthesized by esterification of 1,2-benzenedicarbonyl chloride with eight different diols under high dilution conditions. The structures of the compounds were verified by elemental analysis, {sup 1}H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), IR spectroscopy and high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). The crystal structures of two compounds were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffractometry (XRD). All the new cyclophanes were evaluated for biological activities and the results showed that some of these compounds have low antibacterial or antifungal activities (author)

We report the first results of the LISA Pathfinder in-flight experiment. The results demonstrate that two free-falling reference test masses, such as those needed for a space-based gravitational wave observatory like LISA, can be put in freefall with a relative acceleration noise with a square root of the power spectral density of 5.2±0.1 fm s^{-2}/sqrt[Hz], or (0.54±0.01)×10^{-15} g/sqrt[Hz], with g the standard gravity, for frequencies between 0.7 and 20 mHz. This value is lower than the LISA Pathfinder requirement by more than a factor 5 and within a factor 1.25 of the requirement for the LISA mission, and is compatible with Brownian noise from viscous damping due to the residual gas surrounding the test masses. Above 60 mHz the acceleration noise is dominated by interferometer displacement readout noise at a level of (34.8±0.3) fm/sqrt[Hz], about 2 orders of magnitude better than requirements. At f≤0.5 mHz we observe a low-frequency tail that stays below 12 fm s^{-2}/sqrt[Hz] down to 0.1 mHz. This performance would allow for a space-based gravitational wave observatory with a sensitivity close to what was originally foreseen for LISA.

Modern structural biology still draws the vast majority of information from crystallography, a technique where the objects being investigated are embedded in a crystal lattice. Given the complexity and variety of those objects, it becomes fundamental to computationally assess which of the interfaces in the lattice are biologically relevant and which are simply crystal contacts. Since the mid-1990s, several approaches have been applied to obtain high-accuracy classification of crystal contacts and biological protein-protein interfaces. This review provides an overview of the concepts and main approaches to protein interface classification: thermodynamic estimation of interface stability, evolutionary approaches based on conservation of interface residues, and co-occurrence of the interface across different crystal forms. Among the three categories, evolutionary approaches offer the strongest promise for improvement, thanks to the incessant growth in sequence knowledge. Importantly, protein interface classification algorithms can also be used on multimeric structures obtained using other high-resolution techniques or for protein assembly design or validation purposes. A key issue linked to protein interface classification is the identification of the biological assembly of a crystal structure and the analysis of its symmetry. Here, we highlight the most important concepts and problems to be overcome in assembly prediction. Over the next few years, tools and concepts of interface classification will probably become more frequently used and integrated in several areas of structural biology and structural bioinformatics. Among the main challenges for the future are better addressing of weak interfaces and the application of interface classification concepts to prediction problems like protein-protein docking.

The freefall turning over reaction has been studied in the weightless and centrifuged rats flown on board Cosmos 936. There occur particular changes of the reaction in the weightless rats after landing and its complete absence in eyes-closed centrifuged rats. The possible mechanisms responsible for the observed alterations are discussed.

The theory of general relativity describes macroscopic phenomena driven by the influence of gravity while quantum mechanics brilliantly accounts for microscopic effects. Despite their tremendous individual success, a complete unification of fundamental interactions is missing and remains one of the most challenging and important quests in modern theoretical physics. The spacetime explorer and quantum equivalence principle space test satellite mission, proposed as a medium-size mission within the Cosmic Vision program of the European Space Agency (ESA), aims for testing general relativity with high precision in two experiments by performing a measurement of the gravitational redshift of the Sun and the Moon by comparing terrestrial clocks, and by performing a test of the universality of freefall of matter waves in the gravitational field of Earth comparing the trajectory of two Bose-Einstein condensates of 85Rb and 87Rb. The two ultracold atom clouds are monitored very precisely thanks to techniques of atom interferometry. This allows to reach down to an uncertainty in the Eötvös parameter of at least 2 × 10-15. In this paper, we report about the results of the phase A mission study of the atom interferometer instrument covering the description of the main payload elements, the atomic source concept, and the systematic error sources.

Eutectic growth in Al-51.6%wt Ge alloy has been investigated during freefall in a drop tube. With decreasing undercooling △T, the microstructural evolution has shown a transition from lamellar eutectic to anomalous eutectic.A maximum cooling rate of 4.2×104K/s and undercooling of up to 240K (0.35TE) are obtained in the experiment.The eutectic coupled zone is calculated on the basis of current eutectic and dendritic growth theories, which covers a composition range from 48%-59% Ge and leans towards the Ge-rich side. The two critical undercoolings for the eutectic transition are △T1*=101K and △T2*=178K. When △T ≤△T1*, the microstructure for Al-51.6% Ge eutectic shows lamellar eutectic. If △T ≥△T2*, the microstructure shows anomalous eutectic. In the intermediate range of △T1* ＜△T ＜△T2*, the microstructure is the mixture of the above two types of eutectics.

The early free-fall stages of cones with a density ratio 1.18 and apex angles of 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° were studied using a wireless 3-axis gyroscope and accelerometer to describe the cone 3D motions, while the induced flow in the near wake was captured using particle image velocimetry. The Reynolds number based on the cone diameter and the velocity at which the cone reaches the first local velocity maximum is found to set the limit between two distinctive states. Before this Re is reached the departure from the vertical path and cone rotations are insignificant, while relatively rapid growth is observed after this Re. Sequences of vertical velocity, swirling strength, LES-decomposed velocity, and pressure fields shows the formation and growth of a large and initially symmetric recirculation bubble at the cone base and highlights the presence of a symmetric 3D vortex rollup dominating the near-wake in the early stages of the fall. Later, the shear layer at the edge of the wake manifests in the shedding of Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices that, due to the nature of the recirculation bubble, reorganize to constitute a part of the rollup. Later in the fall, the wake loses its symmetry and shows a high population of vortical structures leading to turbulence. The asymmetric wake leads to strong interactions between the flow field and the cone creating complex feedback loops.

Due to the exponential high gravitational red shift near the event horizon of a black hole, it might appear that the Hawking radiation would be highly sensitive to some unknown high energy physics. To study effects of any unknown physics at the Planck scale on the Hawking radiation, the dispersive field theory models have been proposed, which are variations of Unruh's sonic black hole analogy. In this paper, we use the Hamilton-Jacobi method to investigate the dispersive field theory models. The preferred frame is the free-fall frame of the black hole. The dispersion relation adopted agrees with the relativistic one at low energy but is modified near the Planck mass $m_{p}$. The corrections to the Hawking temperature are calculated for massive and charged particles to $\\mathcal{O}\\left( m_{p}^{-2}\\right) $ and neutral and massless particles with $\\lambda=0$ to all orders. The Hawking temperature of radiation agrees with the standard one at the leading order. After the spectrum of radiation near the horizon is...

We report on electrostatic measurements made on board the European Space Agency mission LISA Pathfinder. Detailed measurements of the charge-induced electrostatic forces exerted on free-falling test masses (TMs) inside the capacitive gravitational reference sensor are the first made in a relevant environment for a space-based gravitational wave detector. Employing a combination of charge control and electric-field compensation, we show that the level of charge-induced acceleration noise on a single TM can be maintained at a level close to 1.0 fm s-2 Hz-1 /2 across the 0.1-100 mHz frequency band that is crucial to an observatory such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). Using dedicated measurements that detect these effects in the differential acceleration between the two test masses, we resolve the stochastic nature of the TM charge buildup due to interplanetary cosmic rays and the TM charge-to-force coupling through stray electric fields in the sensor. All our measurements are in good agreement with predictions based on a relatively simple electrostatic model of the LISA Pathfinder instrument.

Due to the exponential high gravitational red shift near the event horizon of a black hole, it might appear that the Hawking radiation would be highly sensitive to some unknown high energy physics. To study the effects of any unknown physics at the Planck scale on the Hawking radiation, the dispersive field theory models have been proposed, which are variations of Unruh's sonic black hole analogy. In this paper, we use the Hamilton-Jacobi method to investigate the dispersive field theory models. The preferred frame is the free-fall frame of the black hole. The dispersion relation adopted agrees with the relativistic one at low energy but is modified near the Planck mass m{sub p}. The corrections to the Hawking temperature are calculated for massive and charged particles to O(m{sub p}{sup -2}) and neutral and massless particles with λ = 0 to all orders. The Hawking temperature of radiation agrees with the standard one at the leading order. After the spectrum of radiation near the horizon is obtained, we use the brick wall model to compute the thermal entropy of a massless scalar field near the horizon of a 4D spherically symmetric black hole and a 2D one. Finally, the luminosity of a Schwarzschild black hole is calculated by using the geometric optics approximation. (orig.)

We calculate the effect of the Earth-Moon (EM) system on the free-fall motion of LISA test masses. We show that the periodic gravitational pulling of the EM system induces a resonance with fundamental frequency 1 yr-1 and a series of periodic perturbations with frequencies equal to integer harmonics of the synodic month (sime 3.92 × 10-7 Hz). We then evaluate the effects of these perturbations (up to the 6th harmonics) on the relative motions between each test mass couple, finding that they range between 3 mm and 10 pm for the 2nd and 6th harmonic, respectively. If we take the LISA sensitivity curve, as extrapolated down to 10-6 Hz in Bender (2003 Class. Quantum Grav. 20 301-10), we obtain that a few harmonics of the EM system can be detected in the Doppler data collected by the LISA space mission. This suggests that the EM system gravitational near field could provide an additional crosscheck to the calibration of LISA, as extended to such low frequencies.

GOCE, ESA's first Earth gravity mission, is currently to be launched early in 2009 into a sun-synchronous orbit. Using the full-scale numerical propagator, we investigated the satellite's freefall from the initial injection altitude of 280 km down to the first measurement phase altitude. During this decay phase the satellite will pass below the 16:1 resonance (268.4 km). The effect of this resonance, together with the uncertainty in the solar activity prediction, has a distinct impact on the evolution of the orbital elements. Then, to maintain a near-constant and extremely low altitude for the measurement operational phases, the satellite will use an ion thruster to compensate for the atmospheric drag. In order to obtain the groundtrack grid dense enough for a proper sampling of the gravitational field, ESA set constraints for a minimum groundtrack repeat period. We studied suitable repeat cycles (resonant orbits) in the vicinity of 16:1 resonance; we found that they differ greatly in stability towards small perturbations of the satellite's mean altitude and in temporal evolution of the groundtrack coverage. The results obtained from the usual analytical treatment of orbital resonances were refined by more realistic numerical simulations. Finally, we formulated suggestions that might be useful in GOCE orbit planning.

We calculate the effect of the Earth-Moon (EM) system on the free-fall motion of LISA test masses. We show that the periodic gravitational pulling of the EM system induces a resonance with fundamental frequency 1 yr^-1 and a series of periodic perturbations with frequencies equal to integer harmonics of the synodic month (9.92 10^-7 Hz). We then evaluate the effects of these perturbations (up to the 6th harmonics) on the relative motions between each test masses couple, finding that they range between 3mm and 10pm for the 2nd and 6th harmonic, respectively. If we take the LISA sensitivity curve, as extrapolated down to 10^-6 Hz, we obtain that a few harmonics of the EM system can be detected in the Doppler data collected by the LISA space mission. This suggests that the EM system gravitational near field could provide an absolute calibration for the LISA sensitivity at very low frequencies.

A central composite design of experiments was performed to optimize a free-fall reactor for the production of bio-oil from red oak biomass. The effects of four experimental variables including heater set-point temperature, biomass particle size, sweep gas flow rate and biomass feed rate were studied. Heater set-point temperature ranged from 450 to 650 °C, average biomass particle size from 200 to 600 μm, sweep gas flow rate from 1 to 5 sL/min and biomass feed rate from 1 to 2 kg/h. Optimal operating conditions yielding over 70 wt.% bio-oil were identified at a heater set-point temperature of 575 °C, while feeding red oak biomass sized less than 300 μm at 2 kg/h into the 0.021 m diameter, 1.8m tall reactor. Sweep gas flow rate did not have significant effect on bio-oil yield over the range tested.

In a free-fall absolute gravimeter, a laser interferometer is used to track the falling retro-reflector. To buffer the reference retro-reflector from seismic noise, a low-frequency vertical vibration isolator is traditionally used. However, an isolation device is usually complicated and expensive. A strap-down system using a seismometer to record the vibration and correct the measurement resolves the issue, but the actual recorded vibration cannot be directly used because of signal transfer delay and amplitude attenuation. Nevertheless, by quadratically fitting the trajectory of the falling retro-reflector and the motion of the reference retro-reflector, we find that their residuals are significantly correlated. Moreover, the transfer delay and the amplitude attenuation can be calculated using correlation analysis. With this capability, a vibration correction method for absolute gravimeters is proposed and demonstrated. The transfer delay and the gain attenuation are determined from data of only 25 drops, and can be used to correct subsequent measurements. The method is also applied in the T-1 absolute gravimeter. The standard deviation of the measurement results is improved by a factor of 20 after correction in a noisy environment, and improved by a factor of 5 in a quiet environment. Compared with vibration isolators, the strap-down system using this correction method is much more compact, enabling its use in field conditions or even dynamic environments not suitable for vibration isolators.

Full Text Available The dynamic interactions of falling human bodies with civil structures, regardless of their potentially critical effects, have sparsely been researched in contact biomechanics. The physical contact models suggested in the existing literature, particularly for short-distant falls in home settings, assume the human body falls on a “rigid” (not vibrating ground. A similar assumption is usually made during laboratory-based fall tests, including force platforms. Based on observations from a set of pediatric head-first freefall tests, the present paper shows that the dynamics of the grounded force plate are not always negligible when doing fall test in a laboratory setting. By using a similar analogy for lightweight floor structures, it is shown that ignoring the dynamics of floors in the contact model can result in an up to 35% overestimation of the peak force experienced by a falling human. A nonlinear contact model is suggested, featuring an agent-based modelling approach, where the dynamics of the falling human and the impact object (force plate or a floor structure here are each modelled using a single-degree-of-freedom model to simulate their dynamic interactions. The findings of this research can have wide applications in areas such as impact biomechanics and sports science.

An experimental study on co-pyrolysis of biomass and coal was performed in a freefall reactor under atmospheric pressure with nitrogen as balance gas. The coal sample selected was Dayan lignite, while the biomass used was legume straw. The operation temperature was over a range of 500-700{sup o}C, and the blending ratio of biomass in mixtures was varied between 0 and 100 wt.%. The results indicated that there exist synergetic effects in the co-pyrolysis of biomass and coal. Under the higher blending ratio conditions, the char yields are lower than the theoretical values calculated on pyrolysis of each individual fuel, and consequently the liquid yields are higher. Moreover, the experimental results showed that the compositions of the gaseous products from blended samples are not all in accordance with those of their parent fuels. The CO{sub 2} reactivities of the chars obtained from the co-pyrolysis under the higher blending ratio (around 70 wt.%) conditions are about twice as high as those of coal char alone, even higher than those of biomass alone. 24 refs., 6 figs.,1 tab.

A systematic study of fly ash electrostatic beneficiation in a free-falling separation system was carried out to provide fundamental understanding of the separation efficiency for the design of a suitable process for industrial applications.The parameters investigated included feeding position,electric field strength,particle size and moisture content.Particles larger than 105 μm presented the best separation efficiency among four different size fractions,whereas particles smaller than 44 μm showed minimal separation.However.sonication treatments helped separation by liberating more carbon from ash particles,although particle sizes were reduced as well.Experiments also showed that exposure to moisture significantly altered charging behavior of fly ash and its subsequent separation due to more free mobile ion-induced charge exchanges.The optimal feeding position was found to be slightly on the side of the negative electrode,leading to a 30％ reduction in loss-on-ignition (LOI) and a 45％ recovery in a single pass.A simplified mechanical model based on trajectory analysis for charged particles in an electrical field was in reasonable agreement with experimental results.

Tests of the universality of freefall and the weak equivalence principle probe the foundations of General Relativity. Evidence of a violation may lead to the discovery of a new force. The best torsion balance experiments have ruled it out to 10^-13[1]. Cold-atom tests[2-5] have reached 10^-7 and promise to do 7 to 10 orders of magnitude better[6-10] on ground or in space. As mass-dropping experiments[2-4] in a non uniform gravitational field they are sensitive to initial conditions. Errors in the relative position and velocity of the atom clouds at release give rise to a systematic effect which mimics a violation, and these offsets are never measured concurrently with the drop. At the current 10^-7 level they are not an issue. Here we show that when aiming at 2x10^-15 as in[9-10], a fundamental limitation arises. Heisenberg's principle does not allow the centre of mass of free atom clouds to be confined at will in both position and velocity space. The required confinement would be short of the position-momen...

Full Text Available We describe the accidental freefall of a 23-year-old construction worker, who fell 13 stories (approximately 35 meters from a false work landing on a toilet container. On impact he broke through the roof of the container, which attenuated his fall and made his survival possible. The patient sustained a central spleen rupture, liver laceration, subdural hematoma, blunt thoracic trauma with a left-sided hematothorax and right-sided pneumothorax with serial bilateral rib fractures, and an unstable fracture of the 10th thoracic vertebra. Two thoracic drainages were inserted in the emergency department before the patient underwent emergency surgery for the management of his intra-abdominal injuries. On the third day after trauma the unstable fracture of the 10th thoracic vertebra was stabilized with an internal fixator. Following extubation on day 8 after trauma the patient did not show any peripheral neurological deficits but cerebral affection with a general slowdown. After only 21 days, the patient was discharged from the hospital to a rehabilitation center where work specific rehabilitation was started. Although the patient is not suffering from physical afflictions from the injury his daily life abilities are still limited due to cerebral damage.

This article is the first of a two-part review of research on children's and adults understanding of gravity and on how best to teach gravity concepts to students and teachers. This first article concerns free fall—how and why objects fall when they are dropped. The review begins with a brief historical sketch of how these ideas were developed in human history, followed by a summary of the relevant standards and benchmarks. The body of research is organized by the nature of the findings, beginning with studies of the youngest children, followed by older students, adults, and teachers. Although a diversity of misconceptions are found at all age levels, in general children, between the ages of 7 and 9 progress from the idea that things fall because they're not supported to things fall because they're "heavy." Between the ages of 9 and 13, students begin to use the term "gravity," an unseen force, to explain falling, such as "gravity acts just on heavy objects," or "things fall because air is pushing them down." Surprisingly, many high school and college students who can successfully solve numerical problems involving gravity hold qualitative misconceptions similar to those held by much younger students. The finding that even college physics students have significant misconceptions about freefall underscores the importance of effective teaching at the middle and high school levels. Some studies have found that few teachers are aware of their students' misconceptions or know what to do about them. A few studies have reported success in helping students shed their misconceptions, leading to promising recommendations for curriculum development and teaching.

The freefall of electric charges and dipoles, radial and freely falling into the Schwarzschild black hole event horizon, was considered. Inverse effect of electromagnetic fields on the black hole is neglected. Dipole was considered as a point particle, so the deformation associated with exposure by tidal forces are neglected. According to the theorem, "the lack of hair" of black holes, multipole magnetic fields must be fully emitted by multipole fall into a black hole. The spectrum of electromagnetic radiation power for these multipoles (monopole and dipole) was found. Differences were found in the spectra for different orientations of the falling dipole. A general method has been developed to find radiated electromagnetic multipole fields for the freefalling multipoles into a black hole (including higher order multipoles - quadrupoles, etc.). The electromagnetic spectrum can be compared with observational data from stellar mass and smaller black holes.

A numerical procedure is devised to find binary collision orbits in the free-fall three-body problem. Applying this procedure, families of binary collision orbits are found and a sequence of triple collision orbits are positioned. A property of sets of binary collision orbits which is convenient to search triple collision orbits is found. Important numerical results are formulated and summarized in the final section.

Full Text Available Abstract We report the case of a 28-year old rock climber who survived an "unsurvivable" injury consisting of a vertical freefall from 300 feet onto a solid rock surface. The trauma mechanism and injury kinetics are analyzed, with a particular focus on the relevance of body positioning to ground surface at the time of impact. The role of early patient transfer to a level 1 trauma center, and "damage control" management protocols for avoiding delayed morbidity and mortality in this critically injured patient are discussed.

The Space-Time Explorer and Quantum Equivalence Space Test (STEQUEST) satellite mission is devoted to testing several aspects of General Relativity using an atomic clock and a differential dual-species atom interferometer in space. The latter aims at performing a quantum test of the Einstein equivalence principle in the perigee phase of a highly elliptical Earth orbit by probing the universality of freefall with coherent matter waves. In this paper, we give a brief summary on the mission and the prospects for the dual-species atom interferometer.

Characterization of defects and/or disorder in biological macromolecular crystals presents much greater challenges than in conventional small-molecule crystals. The lack of sufficient contrast of defects is often a limiting factor in x-ray diffraction topography of protein crystals. This has seriously hampered efforts to understand mechanisms and origins of formation of imperfections, and the role of defects as essential entities in the bulk of macromolecular crystals. In this report, we employ a phase sensitive x-ray diffraction imaging approach for augmenting the contrast of defects in protein crystals.

The universality of freefall and the weak equivalence principle, which are at the basis of general relativity, have been confirmed to 1 part in 1 013. Space experiments with macroscopic test masses of different composition orbiting Earth inside a low altitude satellite aim to improve this precision by 2 orders of magnitude (with the Microscope satellite launched on April 25, 2016) and up to 4 orders of magnitude (with the Galileo Galilei satellite). At such a high precision, many tiny effects must be taken into account in order to be ruled out as the source of a spurious violation signal. In this work, we investigate the general relativistic effects, including those which involve the rotation of both Earth and the test masses, and show that they are by far too small to be considered even in the most challenging experiment.

The Universality of FreeFall and the Weak Equivalence Principle, which are at the basis of General Relativity, have been confirmed to 1 part in 10^13. Space experiments with macroscopic test masses of different composition orbiting the Earth inside a low altitude satellite aim at improving this precision by two orders of magnitude (with the Microscope satellite, launched on 25 April 2016) and up to four orders of magnitude (with the 'Galileo Galilei' - GG satellite). At such a high precision many tiny effects must be taken into account in order to be ruled out as the source of a spurious violation signal. In this work we investigate the general relativistic effects, including those which involve the rotation of both the source body and the test masses, and show that they are by far too small to be considered even in the most challenging experiment.

A novel autonomous free-fall lander vehicle, with a capability down to 6000 m, was deployed off Cape Verde for studies on bioluminescence in the deep sea. The system was equipped with a high-sensitivity Intensified Silicon Intensified Target (ISIT) video camera, a programmable control-recording unit and an acoustic current meter with depth and temperature sensors. The ISIT lander was used in three modes: (1) freefalling at 34 m min -1, with the camera looking downwards at a mesh screen, recording impacts of luminescent organisms to obtain a vertical profile down to the abyssal sea floor, sampling at >100 l s -1; (2) rotating, with the lander on the sea floor and the camera orienting to the bottom current using a servo-controlled turntable, impacts of luminescent organisms carried by the bottom current onto a mesh screen mounted 0.5 m in front of the camera were recorded to estimate abundance in the benthic boundary layer; (3) baited, with the camera focused on a bait placed on the sea floor. Profiles recorded abundance of luminescent organisms as 26.7 m -3 at 500-999 m depth, decreasing to 1.6 m -3 at 2000-2499 m and 0.5 m -3 between 2500 m and the sea floor at 4046 m, with no further detectable significant change with depth. Rotator measurements at a 0.5 m height above the sea floor gave a mean abundance of 0.47 m -3 in the benthic boundary layer at 4046 m and of 2.04 m -3 at 3200 m. Thirty five minutes after the bait was placed on the sea floor at 3200 m, bioluminescent fauna apparently arrived at the bait and produced luminescent displays at a rate of 2 min -1. Moving, flashing light sources were observed and luminescent material was released into the bottom current.

The motion of bacteria in the environment is relevant to several fields. At very small scales and with simple helical shapes, we are able to describe experimentally and mathematically the motion of solid spirals falling freely within a liquid pool. Using these shapes we intend to mimic the motion of bacteria called Spirochetes. We seek to experimentally investigate the linear and the rotational motion of such shapes. A better understanding of the dynamics of this process will be practical not only on engineering and physics, but the bioscience and environmental as well. In the following pages, we explore the role of the shape on the motion of passive solid helixes in different liquids. We fabricate three solid helical shapes and drop them under gravity in water, glycerol and a mixture of 30% glycerol in water. That generated rotation due to helical angle in water. However, we observe the rotation disappear in glycerol. The movement of the solid helical shapes is imaged using a high-speed video camera. Then, the images are analyzed using the supplied software and a computer. Using these simultaneous measurements, we examine the terminal velocity of solid helical shapes. Using this information we computed the drag coefficient and the drag force. We obtain the helical angular velocity and the torque applied to the solid. The results of this study will allow us to more accurately predict the motion of solid helical shape. This analysis will also shed light onto biological questions of bacteria movement.

A battery of micro techniques were developed which allow the screening of a large number of conditions using only a small amount of the macromolecule. The need to develop methodologies for growing large crystals required for neutron diffraction studies is discussed.

Photonic crystals, i.e. periodical nanostructures of materials with different dielectric constants, are highly interesting for applications in optics, optoelectronics, and sensing. By tailoring the geometrical parameters radically different and improved optical properties (e.g., optical band-gap structure, extreme refractive indices, or high anisotropy) can be achieved. Naturally occurring photonic crystals, like butterfly scales, exoskeletons of insects (chitin), or seashells (nacre), can serve as model systems for understanding the relationship between structure and optical properties. Butterfly scales are studied by TEM using a FEI Titan{sup 3} 80-300 instrument. An optimized FIB technique or ultramicrotome sectioning were used to prepare the sensitive specimens with desired thickness. Since the periodical structures have dimensions on the sub-{mu}m scale, HAADF-STEM tomography was employed for obtaining extended tilt series under conditions of atomic-number sensitive imaging. Since the solid crystal consists of chemically homogeneous chitin while the pores are unfilled, the distinct contrast in the images can easily be interpreted in terms of the local projected mass density allowing to reconstruct the chitin distribution within the optical unit cell of the scales with high 3D resolution.

The paper addresses the safety of occupants in free-fall lifeboats launched from turret-moored floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels. It presents a methodology for assessing operational limits with respect to acceleration-induced loads experienced by the passengers during water

We propose a very long baseline atom interferometer test of Einstein's equivalence principle (EEP) with ytterbium and rubidium extending over 10m of freefall. In view of existing parametrizations of EEP violations, this choice of test masses significantly broadens the scope of atom interferometric EEP tests with respect to other performed or proposed tests by comparing two elements with high atomic numbers. In a first step, our experimental scheme will allow reaching an accuracy in the E\\"otv\\"os ratio of $7\\times 10^{-13}$. This achievement will constrain violation scenarios beyond our present knowledge and will represent an important milestone for exploring a variety of schemes for further improvements of the tests as outlined in the paper. We will discuss the technical realisation in the new infrastructure of the Hanover Institute of Technology (HITec) and give a short overview of the requirements to reach this accuracy. The experiment will demonstrate a variety of techniques which will be employed in fut...

The goal of science literacy is for people to possess a useful appreciation and under- standing of science, both as a discipline and as a human activity. Unfortunately, most people do not become scientifically literate, even though many achieve a passing grade in a general science class that is a requirement as part of a college degree program. In this presentation, I will share my attempt to combine student?s general interest in the space program with the body of physics education research so as to design and implement a course whose main goal is students who will be scientifically literate by the time they graduate from college. I start the course by teaching the theoretical and experimental development of classical Newtonian gravity. This assists students in un- derstanding some of the physical effects encountered in free-fall and in orbit, and why some leading edge science and engineering has been, and will be, conducted on-orbit. With frequent reference to the NASA?s Physical Science in Space Program, I try to illustrate that science is a human activity by teaching about science research, writing, publishing, and funding.

To perform the test of the Equivalence Principle, numerous "freefall" type experiments have been proposed since Galileo, who first suggested the drop of objects from the top of the Pisa tower. These experiments have never met the best performance, up to now obtained with torsion pendulum or lunar laser ranging. With a space experiment like the MICROSCOPE mission, dedicated instruments take advantage of the very steady and soft environment that is managed on board a dedicated satellite maintained on a pure gravitational orbit. The selection of the orbit, the very stiff structure of the satellite, the thermal insulation of the instrument case as well as the accommodation of the instrument and the choice of the satellite equipment provide specific conditions that lead to consider comparisons of measured accelerations with a few 10-1 5 ms -2 accuracy. This paper describes the accommodation of the MICROSCOPE instrument and emphasises the impact to the performance of the environmental conditions provided by the satellite and of the instrument sensitivity evaluated on ground or in orbit.

The Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP) is at the basis of General Relativity - the best theory for gravitation today. It has been and still is tested with different methods and accuracies. In this paper an overview of tests of the Weak Equivalence Principle done in the past, developed in the present and planned for the future is given. The best result up to now is derived from the data of torsion balance experiments by Schlamminger et al. (2008). An intuitive test of the WEP consists of the comparison of the accelerations of two freefalling test masses of different composition. This has been carried through by Kuroda & Mio (1989, 1990) with the up to date most precise result for this setup. There is still more potential in this method, especially with a longer freefall time and sensors with a higher resolution. Providing a freefall time of 4.74 s (9.3 s using the catapult) the drop tower of the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) at the University of Bremen is a perfect facility for further improvements. In 2001 a freefall experiment with high sensitive SQUID (Superconductive QUantum Interference Device) sensors tested the WEP with an accuracy of 10-7 (Nietzsche, 2001). For optimal conditions one could reach an accuracy of 10-13 with this setup (Vodel et al., 2001). A description of this experiment and its results is given in the next part of this paper. For the freefall of macroscopic test masses it is important to start with precisely defined starting conditions concerning the positions and velocities of the test masses. An Electrostatic Positioning System (EPS) has been developed to this purpose. It is described in the last part of this paper.

A series of barbituric acid aroylhydrazine derivatives have been prepared from their corresponding 1,3-dimethyl-5-acetyl barbituric acid and aroylhydrazines. All compounds have been fully characterized by using FT-IR, multinuclear NMR (1H, 13C) and Mass (MS) spectrometry. We also describe the X-ray crystal structure of 3a, which crystallizes in the monoclinic P21/n space group. The crystal structure is stabilized with infinite linear chains of dimeric units. Furthermore, all compounds were investigated for their tyrosinase inhibition, antioxidative and antimicrobial activies. The results from biological activity assays have shown that all of compounds have excellent antioxidant, significant tyrosinase inhibition and moderate antimicrobial activity.

Chalcone derivatives have attracted increasing attention due to their numerous pharmacological activities. Changes in their structures have displayed high degree of diversity that has proven to result in a broad spectrum of biological activities. The present study highlights the synthesis of some halogen substituted chalcones 3(a–i) containing the 5-chlorothiophene moiety, their X-ray crystal structures and the evaluation of possible biological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal and...

The early freefall stages of cones with a density ratio 1.18 and apex angles of 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° were studied using a wireless 3-axis gyroscope and accelerometer to describe the cone 3D motions, while particle image velocimetry was used to capture the induced flow in the near wake. The Reynolds number based on the cones diameter and the velocity at which the cone reaches the first local velocity maximum is found to consistently set the limit between two distinctive states. Relatively rapid growth in the cone nutation and departure from the vertical axis is observed after this Re is reached. Sequences of vertical velocity, swirling strength, LES-decomposed velocity, and pressure fields show the formation and growth of a large and initially symmetric recirculation bubble at the cone base. Those also highlight the presence of a symmetric 3D vortex rollup dominating the near wake in the early stages of the fall. A shear layer develops at the edge of the wake and manifests in the periodic shedding of Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices that, due to the nature of the recirculation bubble, reorganize to constitute a part of the rollup. Later in the fall, the wake loses symmetry and shows high population of vortical structures leading to turbulence. The asymmetric wake leads to strong interactions between the flow field and the cone evidenced by the shedding of a part of the 3D large-scale vortex rollup. This shedding process along with the cone rotation around its own axis provides a possible explanation of the helical wake structure observed in other studies.

We present a theoretical model framework for general polytropic (GP) hydrodynamic cylinder under self-gravity of infinite length with axial uniformity and axisymmetry. For self-similar dynamic solutions, we derive valuable integrals, analytic asymptotic solutions, sonic critical curves, shock conditions, and global numerical solutions with or without expansion shocks. Among others, we investigate various dynamic solutions featured with central free-fall asymptotic behaviours, corresponding to a collapsed mass string with a sustained dynamic accretion from a surrounding mass reservoir. Depending on the allowed ranges of a scaling index a Physically, such a collapsed mass string or filament would break up into a sequence of sub-clumps and segments as induced by gravitational Jeans instabilities. Depending on the scales involved, such sub-clumps would evolve into collapsed objects or gravitationally bound systems. In diverse astrophysical and cosmological contexts, such a scenario can be adapted on various temporal, spatial and mass scales to form a chain of collapsed clumps and/or compact objects. Examples include the formation of chains of proto-stars, brown dwarfs and gaseous planets along molecular filaments; the formation of luminous massive stars along magnetized spiral arms and circum-nuclear starburst rings in barred spiral galaxies; the formation of chains of compact stellar objects such as white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes along a highly condensed mass string. On cosmological scales, one can perceive the formation of chains of galaxies, chains of galaxy clusters or even chains of supermassive and hypermassive black holes in the Universe including the early Universe. All these chains referred to above include possible binaries.

The brilliant structural body colours of many animals are created by three-dimensional biological photonic crystals that act as wavelength-specific reflectors. Here, we report a study on the vividly coloured scales of the diamond weevil, Entimus imperialis. Electron microscopy identified the chitin

The brilliant structural body colours of many animals are created by three-dimensional biological photonic crystals that act as wavelength-specific reflectors. Here, we report a study on the vividly coloured scales of the diamond weevil, Entimus imperialis. Electron microscopy identified the chitin

The results of an experimental study of the laser radiation effect on the crystal`s formation in the volume of biological fluids that are complex multi-component solutions have been discussing. Are investigated white and natural bile in vitro. The qualitative changes were observed. Thus, at the bottom of the cell in which bile is not exposed to the laser radiation, the crystals are formed. In the irradiated bile gallstone has a thin layer of a homogeneous viscous colloidal liquid with very small, visible in polarized light crystalline formations was got. Irradiated laser bile's gallstone was covered evenly white deposit without surface defect unlike gallstone in bile without radiation exposure. A possible mechanism to explain the laser radiation action on the mineral formation in biological fluids and also practical application of this effect have been suggesting too.

Cytolethal distending toxin subunit CdtB from E. coli strain 9142-88 was purified and crystallized. Crystals belonging to space group P2{sub 1}2{sub 1}2{sub 1} diffract to a resolution of 1.72 Å. Cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) is a secreted protein toxin produced by several bacterial pathogens. The biologically active CDT subunit CdtB is an active homolog of mammalian type I DNase. Internalization of CdtB and subsequent translocation into the nucleus of target cells results in DNA-strand breaks, leading to cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. CdtB crystals were grown using microbatch methods with polyethylene glycol 8000 as the precipitant. The CdtB crystals contain one molecule of MW 30.5 kDa per asymmetric unit, belong to space group P2{sub 1}2{sub 1}2{sub 1} and diffract to 1.72 Å.

Full Text Available Hemozoin (Hz is a heme crystal produced by some blood-feeding organisms, as an efficient way to detoxify heme derived from hemoglobin digestion. In the triatomine insect Rhodnius prolixus, Hz is essentially produced by midgut extracellular phospholipid membranes known as perimicrovillar membranes (PMVM. Here, we investigated the role of commercial glycerophospholipids containing serine, choline and ethanolamine as headgroups and R. prolixus midgut lipids (RML in heme crystallization. All commercial unsaturated forms of phospholipids, as well as RML, mediated fast and efficient β-hematin formation by means of two kinetically distinct mechanisms: an early and fast component, followed by a late and slow one. The fastest reactions observed were induced by unsaturated forms of phosphatidylethanolamine (uPE and phosphatidylcholine (uPC, with half-lives of 0.04 and 0.7 minutes, respectively. β-hematin crystal morphologies were strikingly distinct among groups, with uPE producing homogeneous regular brick-shaped crystals. Interestingly, uPC-mediated reactions resulted in two morphologically distinct crystal populations: one less representative group of regular crystals, resembling those induced by uPE, and the other largely represented by crystals with numerous sharp edges and tapered ends. Heme crystallization reactions induced by RML were efficient, with a heme to β-hematin conversion rate higher than 70%, but clearly slower (t1/2 of 9.9-17.7 minutes than those induced by uPC and uPE. Interestingly, crystals produced by RML were homogeneous in shape and quite similar to those mediated by uPE. Thus, β-hematin formation can be rapidly and efficiently induced by unsaturated glycerophospholipids, particularly uPE and uPC, and may play a role on biological heme crystallization in R. prolixus midgut.

Cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) is a secreted protein toxin produced by several bacterial pathogens. The biologically active CDT subunit CdtB is an active homolog of mammalian type I DNase. Internalization of CdtB and subsequent translocation into the nucleus of target cells results in DNA-strand breaks, leading to cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. CdtB crystals were grown using microbatch methods with polyethylene glycol 8000 as the precipitant. The CdtB crystals contain one molecule of MW 30.5 kDa per asymmetric unit, belong to space group P212121 and diffract to 1.72 Å. PMID:16511299

The S100 family is a class of calcium-regulated proteins with EF-hand. They are widely distributed and are implicated in diverse intracellular and extracellular physiological processes. A study of the S100 family using computational biology methods such as multiple sequence alignment, structural alignment and the construction of an evolutionary tree will promote understanding of S100 protein structures and their function, and could provide suggestions for crystallization.

A fully automatic system has been developed that performs X-ray centring and characterization of, and data collection from, large numbers of cryocooled crystals without human intervention. Considerable effort is dedicated to evaluating macromolecular crystals at synchrotron sources, even for well established and robust systems. Much of this work is repetitive, and the time spent could be better invested in the interpretation of the results. In order to decrease the need for manual intervention in the most repetitive steps of structural biology projects, initial screening and data collection, a fully automatic system has been developed to mount, locate, centre to the optimal diffraction volume, characterize and, if possible, collect data from multiple cryocooled crystals. Using the capabilities of pixel-array detectors, the system is as fast as a human operator, taking an average of 6 min per sample depending on the sample size and the level of characterization required. Using a fast X-ray-based routine, samples are located and centred systematically at the position of highest diffraction signal and important parameters for sample characterization, such as flux, beam size and crystal volume, are automatically taken into account, ensuring the calculation of optimal data-collection strategies. The system is now in operation at the new ESRF beamline MASSIF-1 and has been used by both industrial and academic users for many different sample types, including crystals of less than 20 µm in the smallest dimension. To date, over 8000 samples have been evaluated on MASSIF-1 without any human intervention.

This paper presents a mathematical model for the simulation of cementing operations in oil wells. The downward flow of fluids in the casing and the upward flow of fluids in the annulus is further complicated by fluid freefall, which creates a vacuum at the well head. The basic equations were derived from the mass and momentum conservation laws by means of a macroscopic balance. The simulator is used to predict pressures and flow rates during the operation. (author) 6 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.

Full Text Available Quantitative understanding of the mechanical behavior of biological liquid crystals such as proteins is essential for gaining insight into their biological functions, since some proteins perform notable mechanical functions. Recently, single-molecule experiments have allowed not only the quantitative characterization of the mechanical behavior of proteins such as protein unfolding mechanics, but also the exploration of the free energy landscape for protein folding. In this work, we have reviewed the current state-of-art in single-molecule bioassays that enable quantitative studies on protein unfolding mechanics and/or various molecular interactions. Specifically, single-molecule pulling experiments based on atomic force microscopy (AFM have been overviewed. In addition, the computational simulations on single-molecule pulling experiments have been reviewed. We have also reviewed the AFM cantilever-based bioassay that provides insight into various molecular interactions. Our review highlights the AFM-based single-molecule bioassay for quantitative characterization of biological liquid crystals such as proteins.

Full Text Available The applicability of the immersed boundary-finite difference lattice Boltzmann method (IB-FDLBM to high Reynolds number flows about a circular cylinder is examined. Two-dimensional simulations of flows past a stationary circular cylinder are carried out for a wide range of the Reynolds number, Re, i.e., 1 ≤ Re ≤ 1×105. An immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method (IB-LBM is also used for comparison. Then free-falling circular cylinders are simulated to demonstrate the feasibility of predicting moving particles at high Reynolds numbers. The main conclusions obtained are as follows: (1 steady and unsteady flows about a stationary cylinder are well predicted with IB-LBM and IB-FDLBM, provided that the spatial resolution is high enough to satisfy the conditions of numerical stability, (2 high spatial resolution is required for stable IB-LBM simulation of high Reynolds number flows, (3 IB-FDLBM can stably simulate flows at very high Reynolds numbers without increasing the spatial resolution, (4 IB-FDLBM gives reasonable predictions of the drag coefficient for 1 ≤ Re ≤ 1×105, and (5 IB-FDLBM gives accurate predictions for the motion of free-falling cylinders at intermediate Reynolds numbers.

Full Text Available Chalcone derivatives have attracted increasing attention due to their numerous pharmacological activities. Changes in their structures have displayed high degree of diversity that has proven to result in a broad spectrum of biological activities. The present study highlights the synthesis of some halogen substituted chalcones 3(a–i containing the 5-chlorothiophene moiety, their X-ray crystal structures and the evaluation of possible biological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal and reducing power abilities. The results indicate the tested compounds show a varied range of inhibition values against all the tested microbial strains. Compound 3c with a p-fluoro substituent on the phenyl ring exhibits elevated antimicrobial activity, whereas the compounds 3e and 3f displayed the least antimicrobial activities. The compounds 3d, 3e, 3f and 3i showed good ferric and cupric reducing abilities, and the compounds 3b and 3c showed the weakest reducing power in the series.

Chalcone derivatives have attracted increasing attention due to their numerous pharmacological activities. Changes in their structures have displayed high degree of diversity that has proven to result in a broad spectrum of biological activities. The present study highlights the synthesis of some halogen substituted chalcones 3(a-i) containing the 5-chlorothiophene moiety, their X-ray crystal structures and the evaluation of possible biological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal and reducing power abilities. The results indicate the tested compounds show a varied range of inhibition values against all the tested microbial strains. Compound 3c with a p-fluoro substituent on the phenyl ring exhibits elevated antimicrobial activity, whereas the compounds 3e and 3f displayed the least antimicrobial activities. The compounds 3d, 3e, 3f and 3i showed good ferric and cupric reducing abilities, and the compounds 3b and 3c showed the weakest reducing power in the series.

An experimental study has been made of the influence of an orthogonal (side) air flow propagating with a velocity to 5 m/s on the phases of transformation of a water slug with an initial volume of 0.05-0.5 liter in freefall from a height of 3 m. Use was made of Phantom V411 and Phantom Miro M310 high-speed video cameras and a Tema Automotive software system with the function of continuous tracking. The laws of retardation of the phases of transformation of the water slug from the instant of formation to that of formation of a droplet cloud under the action of the air flow orthogonal to the direction of the slug motion, and also of the deceleration, removal, and destruction of the droplets and fragments of water separating from the slug surface, have been established.

MASSIF-1 (ID30A-1) is a new beamline dedicated to the completely automatic characterization and data collection from crystals of biological macromolecules. MASSIF-1 (ID30A-1) is an ESRF undulator beamline operating at a fixed wavelength of 0.969 Å (12.8 keV) that is dedicated to the completely automatic characterization of and data collection from crystals of biological macromolecules. The first of the ESRF Upgrade MASSIF beamlines to be commissioned, it has been open since September 2014, providing a unique automated data collection service to academic and industrial users. Here, the beamline characteristics and details of the new service are outlined.

Particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) is an integral membrane metalloenzyme that catalyses the conversion of methane to methanol. Knowledge of how pMMO performs this extremely challenging chemistry may have an impact on the use of methane as an alternative energy source by facilitating the development of new synthetic catalysts. We have determined the structure of pMMO from the methanotroph Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) to a resolution of 2.8 {angstrom}. The enzyme is a trimer with an {alpha}{sub 3}{beta}{sub 3}{gamma}{sub 3} polypeptide arrangement. Two metal centres, modelled as mononuclear copper and dinuclear copper, are located in soluble regions of each pmoB subunit, which resembles cytochrome c oxidase subunit II. A third metal centre, occupied by zinc in the crystal, is located within the membrane. The structure provides new insight into the molecular details of biological methane oxidation.

A new compact optical Fano filter suitable for biological sensing is proposed, which patterns photon crystal in single crystalline silicon nanomembranes (SiNMs) and transferring onto transparent glass substrates. The effects of air hole size and silicon thickness on the transmission characteristics of new filter are numerically investigated by using three-dimen-sional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique, the spectral response is also studied by baek-filling bio-liquid. The results show that the dip wavelength will shift toward longer wavelength by either reducing air hole radius or filling bio-liquid. The number of dips will increase with the increase of silicon thickness. The size of proposed filter can be less than 1 mm2.

In this paper, we described a new type of bioenabled nano-plasmonic sensors based on diatom photonic crystal biosilica with in-situ growth silver nanoparticles and demonstrated label-free chemical and biological sensing based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERs) from complex samples. Diatoms are photosynthetic marine micro-organisms that create their own skeletal shells of hydrated amorphous silica, called frustules, which possess photonic crystal-like hierarchical micro- & nano-scale periodic pores. Our research shows that such hybrid plasmonic-biosilica nanostructures formed by cost-effective and eco-friendly bottom-up processes can achieve ultra-high limit of detection for medical applications, food sensing, water/air quality monitoring and geological/space research. The enhanced sensitivity comes from the optical coupling of the guided-mode resonance of the diatom frustules and the localized surface plasmons of the silver nanoparticles. Additionally, the nanoporous, ultra-hydrophilic diatom biosilica with large surface-to-volume ratio can concentrate more analyte molecules to the surface of the SERS substrates, which can help to detect biomolecules that cannot be easily adsorbed by metallic nanoparticles.

Diatoms are microalgae found in every habitat where water is present. They produce 40% of the ocean's yearly production of organic carbon and 20% of the oxygen that we breathe. Their abundance and wide distribution make them ideal materials for a wide range of applications as living organisms. In our previous work, we have demonstrated that diatom biosilica with self-assembled silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) can be used as ultra-sensitive, low-cost substrates for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensing. The enhancement comes from the photonic crystal enhancement of diatom frustules that could improve the hot-spots of Ag NPs. In this work, we report the unique micro-fluidic flow, analyte concentration effect, and thin layer chromatography (TLC) on diatom biosilica, which enables selection, separation, detection, and analysis of complex chemical and biological samples. Particularly, we show that the microscopic fluidic flow induced by the evaporation of liquid droplet can concentrate the analyte and achieve label-free sensing of single molecule detection of R6G and label-free sensing of 4.5×10-17g trinitrotoluene (TNT) from only 200 nano-liter solution. We also demonstrated a facile method for instant on-site separation and detection of analytes by TLC in tandem with SERS spectroscopy using high density diatom thin film. This lab-on-chip technology has been successfully applied for label-free detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from human plasma and histamine from salmon fish. Our research suggests that such cost-effective, multi-functional photonic crystal sensors enabled by diatom biosilica opens a new route for lab-on-chip systems and possess significant engineering potentials for chemical and biological sensing.

The present study describes and documents self-assembly of geometric triangular chiral hexagon crystal like complex organizations (GTCHC) in human pathological tissues. The authors have found this architectural geometric expression at macroscopic and microscopic levels mainly in cancer processes. This study is based essentially on macroscopic and histopathologic analyses of 3000 surgical specimens: 2600 inflammatory lesions and 400 malignant tumours. Geometric complexes identified photographically at macroscopic level were located in the gross surgical specimen, and these areas were carefully dissected. Samples were taken to carry out histologic analysis. Based on the hypothesis of a collision genesis mechanism and because it is difficult to carry out an appropriate methodological observation in biological systems, the authors designed a model base on other dynamic systems to obtain indirect information in which a strong white flash wave light discharge, generated by an electronic device, hits over the lines of electrical conductance structured in helicoidal pattern. In their experimental model, the authors were able to reproduce and to predict polarity, chirality, helicoid geometry, triangular and hexagonal clusters through electromagnetic sequential collisions. They determined that similar events among constituents of extracelular matrix which drive and produce piezoelectric activity are responsible for the genesis of GTCHC complexes in pathological tissues. This research suggests that molecular crystals represented by triangular chiral hexagons derived from a collision-attraction event against collagen type I fibrils emerge at microscopic and macroscopic scales presenting a lateral assembly of each side of hypertrophy helicoid fibers, that represent energy flow in cooperative hierarchically chiral electromagnetic interaction in pathological tissues and arises as a geometry of the equilibrium in perturbed biological systems. Further interdisciplinary studies must

Full Text Available The present study describes and documents self-assembly of geometric triangular chiral hexagon crystal like complex organizations (GTCHC in human pathological tissues. The authors have found this architectural geometric expression at macroscopic and microscopic levels mainly in cancer processes. This study is based essentially on macroscopic and histopathologic analyses of 3000 surgical specimens: 2600 inflammatory lesions and 400 malignant tumours. Geometric complexes identified photographically at macroscopic level were located in the gross surgical specimen, and these areas were carefully dissected. Samples were taken to carry out histologic analysis. Based on the hypothesis of a collision genesis mechanism and because it is difficult to carry out an appropriate methodological observation in biological systems, the authors designed a model base on other dynamic systems to obtain indirect information in which a strong white flash wave light discharge, generated by an electronic device, hits over the lines of electrical conductance structured in helicoidal pattern. In their experimental model, the authors were able to reproduce and to predict polarity, chirality, helicoid geometry, triangular and hexagonal clusters through electromagnetic sequential collisions. They determined that similar events among constituents of extracelular matrix which drive and produce piezoelectric activity are responsible for the genesis of GTCHC complexes in pathological tissues. This research suggests that molecular crystals represented by triangular chiral hexagons derived from a collision-attraction event against collagen type I fibrils emerge at microscopic and macroscopic scales presenting a lateral assembly of each side of hypertrophy helicoid fibers, that represent energy flow in cooperative hierarchically chiral electromagnetic interaction in pathological tissues and arises as a geometry of the equilibrium in perturbed biological systems. Further

(Short abstract). In Galilean physics, the universality of freefall implies an inertial frame, which in turns implies that the mass m of the falling body is omitted. Otherwise, an additional acceleration proportional to m/M would rise either for an observer at the centre of mass of the system, or for an observer at a fixed distance from the centre of mass of M. These elementary, but overlooked, considerations fully respect the equivalence principle and the identity of an inertial or a gravitational pull for an observer in the Einstein cabin. They value as fore-runners of the self-force and gauge dependency in general relativity. The approximate nature of Galilei's law of freefall is explored herein. When stepping into general relativity, we report how the geodesic freefall into a black hole was the subject of an intense debate again centred on coordinate choice. Later, we describe how the infalling mass and the emitted gravitational radiation affect the freefall motion of a body. The general relativistic ...

One of the goals of physics education is to instill a sense of wonder in our students. We hope our natural curiosity will rub off on them and that they will apply the critical thinking skills we teach them to other aspects of their lives outside the classroom. As an example of this, consider the situation described in Milton's epic poem ``Paradise Lost''. Milton wrote that when the devil was cast out of heaven, he fell for nine days before landing in hell. In Milton's universe, hell is a separate place from Earth, but many people place hell at the center of the Earth. Based on these ideas, we can apply Newton's laws of motion to calculate the distance from heaven to Earth. This exercise is an example of the kind of intellectual exercise a physicist (or a physics student) might carry out when confronted with such information. We apply the basic principles of physics to a situation described in work of literature while making no attempt to validate or refute any philosophy, theology or ideology.

Full Text Available Three reasonable hypotheses lead to the thesis that physical phenomena can be described and simulated with cellular automata. In this work, we attempt to describe the motion of a particle upon which a constant force is applied, with a cellular automaton, in Newtonian physics, in Special Relativity, and in General Relativity. The results are very different for these three theories.

Fear behaviors and fear memories in rodents have been traditionally assessed by the amount of freezing upon the presentation of conditioned cues or unconditioned stimuli. However, many experiences, such as encountering earthquakes or accidental fall from tree branches, may produce long-lasting fear memories but are behaviorally difficult to measure using freezing parameters. Here, we have examined changes in heartbeat interval dynamics as physiological readout for assessing fearful reactions as mice were subjected to sudden air puff, free-fall drop inside a small elevator, and a laboratory-version earthquake. We showed that these fearful events rapidly increased heart rate (HR) with simultaneous reduction of heart rate variability (HRV). Cardiac changes can be further analyzed in details by measuring three distinct phases: namely, the rapid rising phase in HR, the maximum plateau phase during which HRV is greatly decreased, and the recovery phase during which HR gradually recovers to baseline values. We showed that durations of the maximum plateau phase and HR recovery speed were quite sensitive to habituation over repeated trials. Moreover, we have developed the fear resistance index based on specific cardiac response features. We demonstrated that the fear resistance index remained largely consistent across distinct fearful events in a given animal, thereby enabling us to compare and rank individual mouse's fear responsiveness among the group. Therefore, the fear resistance index described here can represent a useful parameter for measuring personality traits or individual differences in stress-susceptibility in both wild-type mice and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) models.

Full Text Available Fear behaviors and fear memories in rodents have been traditionally assessed by the amount of freezing upon the presentation of conditioned cues or unconditioned stimuli. However, many experiences, such as encountering earthquakes or accidental fall from tree branches, may produce long-lasting fear memories but are behaviorally difficult to measure using freezing parameters. Here, we have examined changes in heartbeat interval dynamics as physiological readout for assessing fearful reactions as mice were subjected to sudden air puff, free-fall drop inside a small elevator, and a laboratory-version earthquake. We showed that these fearful events rapidly increased heart rate (HR with simultaneous reduction of heart rate variability (HRV. Cardiac changes can be further analyzed in details by measuring three distinct phases: namely, the rapid rising phase in HR, the maximum plateau phase during which HRV is greatly decreased, and the recovery phase during which HR gradually recovers to baseline values. We showed that durations of the maximum plateau phase and HR recovery speed were quite sensitive to habituation over repeated trials. Moreover, we have developed the fear resistance index based on specific cardiac response features. We demonstrated that the fear resistance index remained largely consistent across distinct fearful events in a given animal, thereby enabling us to compare and rank individual mouse's fear responsiveness among the group. Therefore, the fear resistance index described here can represent a useful parameter for measuring personality traits or individual differences in stress-susceptibility in both wild-type mice and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD models.

The amount of pollutants produced during manufacturing processes of TFT-LCD (thin-film transistor liquid crystal display) substantially increases due to an increasing production of the opto-electronic industry in Taiwan. The total amount of wastewater from TFT-LCD manufacturing plants is expected to exceed 200,000 CMD in the near future. Typically, organic solvents used in TFT-LCD manufacturing processes account for more than 33% of the total TFT-LCD wastewater. The main components of these organic solvents are composed of the stripper (dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) and monoethanolamine (MEA)), developer (tetra-methyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH)) and chelating agents. These compounds are recognized as non-or slow-biodegradable organic compounds and little information is available regarding their biological treatability. In this study, the performance of an A/O SBR (anoxic/oxic sequencing batch reactor) treating synthetic TFT-LCD wastewater was evaluated. The long-term experimental results indicated that the A/O SBR was able to achieve stable and satisfactory removal performance for DMSO, MEA and TMAH at influent concentrations of 430, 800, and 190 mg/L, respectively. The removal efficiencies for all three compounds examined were more than 99%. In addition, batch tests were conducted to study the degradation kinetics of DMSO, MEA, and TMAH under aerobic, anoxic, and anaerobic conditions, respectively. The organic substrate of batch tests conducted included 400 mg/L of DMSO, 250 mg/L of MEA, and 120 mg/L of TMAH. For DMSO, specific DMSO degradation rates under aerobic and anoxic conditions were both lower than 4 mg DMSO/g VSS-hr. Under anaerobic conditions, the specific DMSO degradation rate was estimated to be 14 mg DMSO/g VSS-hr, which was much higher than those obtained under aerobic and anoxic conditions. The optimum specific MEA and TMAH degradation rates were obtained under aerobic conditions with values of 26.5 mg MEA/g VSS-hr and 17.3 mg TMAH/g VSS

Obviously, in Galilean physics, the universality of freefall implies an inertial frame, which in turns implies that the mass m of the falling body is omitted (because it is a test mass; put otherwise, the center of mass of the system coincides with the center of the main, and fixed, mass M; or else, we consider only a homogeneous gravitational field). Conversely, an additional (in the opposite or same direction) acceleration proportional to m/M would rise either for an observer at the center of mass of the system, or for an observer at a fixed distance from the center of mass of M. These elementary, but overlooked, considerations fully respect the equivalence principle (EP) and the (local) identity of an inertial or a gravitational pull for an observer in the Einstein cabin. They value as fore-runners of the self-force and gauge dependency in general relativity. Because of its importance in teaching and in the history of physics, coupled to the introductory role to Einstein’s EP, the approximate nature of Galilei’s law of freefall is explored herein. When stepping into general relativity, we report how the geodesic freefall into a black hole was the subject of an intense debate again centered on coordinate choice. Later, we describe how the infalling mass and the emitted gravitational radiation affect the freefall motion of a body. The general relativistic self-force might be dealt with to perfectly fit into a geodesic conception of motion. Then, embracing quantum mechanics, real black holes are not classical static objects any longer. Freefall has to handle the Hawking radiation, and leads us to new perspectives on the varying mass of the evaporating black hole and on the varying energy of the falling mass. Along the paper, we also estimate our findings for ordinary masses being dropped from a Galilean or Einsteinian Pisa-like tower with respect to the current state of the art drawn from precise measurements in ground and space laboratories, and to the

A sustainable way to recover phosphorus (P) in swine wastewater involves a preliminary step of P dissolution followed by the separation of particulate organic matter (OM). The next two steps are firstly the precipitation of struvite crystals done by adding a crystallization reagent (magnesia) and secondly the filtration of the crystals. To develop the process successfully at an industrial scale, the control of the mechanisms of precipitation is the key point in order to obtain high value-added products, that is, big struvite crystals easy to harvest and handle. Experiments with process parameters optimized previously in a synthetic swine wastewater were performed on real swine wastewater to assess the role of the OM on struvite crystallization. After 24 h, with a pH increase to 6.8 only, 90% of the initial P was precipitated and 60% was precipitated as struvite. 80% of the solid recovered was in the fraction > 100 µm. The other forms recovered were brushite, amorphous calcium phosphate, NaCl, KCl and OM. The influence of OM on struvite precipitation in acidified swine wastewater was negative on the reaction kinetics but positive on the size of the struvite crystals. The presence of colloidal particles increased the size of the struvite crystals but slowed down the kinetics due to the viscosity induced by the repulsive force of the colloids. The maximum size of single struvite crystals (200 µm) was observed with the presence of particulate OM.

Graphical abstract: Petal-like crystals were observed to form on the surface of the BG/COL/ChS scaffolds. Highlights: ► Porous scaffolds were prepared using bioglass, collagen and chondroitin sulfate. ► Highly oriented HA crystals were grown on scaffolds using simulated body fluids ► The microstructure and orientation of HA were explained by molecular configuration. - Abstract: Several bio-organics-defined composite scaffolds were prepared using 58s-bioglass (BG), collagen (Col) and chondroitin sulfate (ChS). These scaffolds possess highly porous structure. X-ray diffraction of these scaffolds strongly indicated that hydroxyapatite (HA) crystals formed on their surfaces in simulated body fluids within 3 d, and similar formation process of crystals could be obtained on BG/Col and BG/Col/ChS scaffolds. The morphology and structure of the crystals were further examined by scanning electron microscopy. The results obtained indicate that an apatite with petal-like structure similar to that found on BG/Col scaffolds can be produced on BG/Col/ChS scaffolds through biomimetic synthesis, while that on BG/ChS scaffolds took place differently. The differences could be explained by self-assembly processes and the different macromolecular configurations of the Col and ChS fibrils which self-assemble spontaneously into their fibers. On the other hand, the bio-organics-defined composites have good cell biocompability. The results may be applicable to develop tailored biomaterials for peculiar bone substitute.

MASSIF-1 (ID30A-1) is an ESRF undulator beamline operating at a fixed wavelength of 0.969 Å (12.8 keV) that is dedicated to the completely automatic characterization of and data collection from crystals of biological macromolecules. The first of the ESRF Upgrade MASSIF beamlines to be commissioned, it has been open since September 2014, providing a unique automated data collection service to academic and industrial users. Here, the beamline characteristics and details of the new service are outlined. PMID:26524320

获得具有高分辨率的晶体是目前生物大分子结构测定的主要瓶颈,生物大分子的结晶是一个复杂的物理化学过程,涉及多方面的影响因素.本文综述了近年来生物大分子结晶的热点方法和技术.%Obtaining the high-resolution crystal structure has become a bottleneck for structure determination of biological macromolecules. The crystallization of biological macromolecules is a complicated process influenced by many parameters. The recent technologies for preparing crystal of biological macromolecules as well as techniques for controlling the crystallization process are reviewed.

Although second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging has emerged as a powerful tool for imaging biological tissues with submicron resolution, the excitation wavelength dependence of SHG intensity in biological tissues is an optical property that is not fully understood so far. We first calibrate system factors which may potentially affect the accuracy of the wavelength-dependent SHG measurement. Then our calibration is validated by measuring the wavelength dependence of SHG signal from a BaB₂O₄ crystal under different focusing conditions and comparing with the theoretical calculations. The good agreement between the experimental results and theoretical calculations demonstrates that we have established a reliable method to validate wavelength-dependent SHG measurement over a broad wavelength range. We also investigate the wavelength dependence of a 10-μm thick mouse tendon tissue in both forward and backward directions. It is found that SHG of mouse tendon tissue decreases monotonically for excitation from 750 to 950 nm.

Hemozoin (Hz) is a heme crystal produced by some blood-feeding organisms, as an efficient way to detoxify heme derived from hemoglobin digestion. In the triatomine insect Rhodnius prolixus, Hz is essentially produced by midgut extracellular phospholipid membranes known as perimicrovillar membrane...

Characterization of binding hot spots of protein interfaces is a fundamental study in molecular biology. Many computational methods have been proposed to identify binding hot spots. However, there are few studies to assess the biological significance of binding hot spots. We introduce the notion of biological significance of a contact residue for capturing the probability of the residue occurring in or contributing to protein binding interfaces. We take a statistical Z-score approach to the assessment of the biological significance. The method has three main steps. First, the potential score of a residue is defined by using a knowledge-based potential function with relative accessible surface area calculations. A null distribution of this potential score is then generated from artifact crystal packing contacts. Finally, the Z-score significance of a contact residue with a specific potential score is determined according to this null distribution. We hypothesize that residues at binding hot spots have big absolute values of Z-score as they contribute greatly to binding free energy. Thus, we propose to use Z-score to predict whether a contact residue is a hot spot residue. Comparison with previously reported methods on two benchmark datasets shows that this Z-score method is mostly superior to earlier methods. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Computational Methods for Protein Interaction and Structural Prediction.

Escherichia coli L-arabinose isomerase (ECAI; EC 5.3.1.4) catalyzes the isomerization of L-arabinose to L-ribulose in vivo. This enzyme is also of commercial interest as it catalyzes the conversion of D-galactose to D-tagatose in vitro. The crystal structure of ECAI was solved and refined at 2.6 Angstroms resolution. The subunit structure of ECAI is organized into three domains: an N-terminal, a central and a C-terminal domain. It forms a crystallographic trimeric architecture in the asymmetric unit. Packing within the crystal suggests the idea that ECAI can form a hexameric assembly. Previous electron microscopic and biochemical studies supports that ECAI is hexameric in solution. A comparison with other known structures reveals that ECAI adopts a protein fold most similar to E. coli fucose isomerase (ECFI) despite very low sequence identity 9.7%. The structural similarity between ECAI and ECFI with regard to number of domains, overall fold, biological assembly, and active site architecture strongly suggests that the enzymes have functional similarities. Further, the crystal structure of ECAI forms a basis for identifying molecular determinants responsible for isomerization of arabinose to ribulose in vivo and galactose to tagatose in vitro.

Homodimerization is an essential step for membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) to activate proMMP-2 and to degrade collagen on the cell surface. To uncover the molecular basis of the hemopexin (Hpx) domain-driven dimerization of MT1-MMP, a crystal structure of the Hpx domain was solved at 1.7 Å resolution. Two interactions were identified as potential biological dimer interfaces in the crystal structure, and mutagenesis studies revealed that the biological dimer possesses a symmetrical interaction where blades II and III of molecule A interact with blades III and II of molecule B. The mutations of amino acids involved in the interaction weakened the dimer interaction of Hpx domains in solution, and incorporation of these mutations into the full-length enzyme significantly inhibited dimer-dependent functions on the cell surface, including proMMP-2 activation, collagen degradation, and invasion into the three-dimensional collagen matrix, whereas dimer-independent functions, including gelatin film degradation and two-dimensional cell migration, were not affected. These results shed light on the structural basis of MT1-MMP dimerization that is crucial to promote cellular invasion.

Series of isoxazole derivatives were synthesized by substituted chalcones and 2-chloro-6-fluorobenzene formaldehyde oxime with 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition. The target compounds were determined by melting point, IR, 1H NMR, elemental analyses and HRMS. The crystal structure of compound 3a was detected by X-ray diffraction and it crystallizes in the triclinic space group p2(1)/c with z = 4. The molecular geometry of compound 3a was optimized using density functional theory (DFT/B3LYP) method with the 6-31G+(d,p) basis set in the ground state. From the optimized geometry of the molecule, FT-IR, FT-Raman, HOMO-LUMO and natural bond orbital (NBO) were calculated at B3LYP/6-31G+(d,p) level. Finally, the antifungal activity of the synthetic compounds were evaluated against Pythium solani, Gibberella nicotiancola, Fusarium oxysporium f.sp. niveum and Gibberella saubinetii.

Full Text Available The paper presents the experimental results of evaporation of distilled water and 10% aqueous salt solutions of NaCl and СaCl2 droplets under their freefalling on a heated surface. It is proved that it is more expedient to conduct the experimental research in this field according to classical multifactorial experiment. Laser treatment of surfaces is found to increase the evaporation rate and to biases the point of boiling crisis in the region of lower surface temperatures. In this case, in the conditions of boiling crisis the frequency of contact of a droplet with a heated surface will decrease.

We propose and demonstrate a new optical trapping method for single cells that utilizes modulated light fields to trap a wide array of cell types, including mammalian, yeast, and Escherichia coli cells, on the surface of a two-dimensional photonic crystal. This method is capable of reducing the required light intensity, and thus minimizing the photothermal damage to living cells, thereby extending cell viability in optical trapping and cell manipulation applications. To this end, a thorough characterization of cell viability in optical trapping environments was performed. This study also demonstrates the technique using spatial light modulation in patterned manipulation of live cell arrays over a broad area.

Structural biology is key to our understanding of the mechanisms of biological processes. This text describes current methods and future frontiers in crystal growth and use of X-ray and neutron crystallography, in the context of automation of crystallization and generation of synchrotron X-ray and neutron beams.

A method and apparatus for the transportation, remote and unattended mounting, and visual alignment and monitoring of protein crystals for synchrotron generated x-ray diffraction analysis. The protein samples are maintained at liquid nitrogen temperatures at all times: during shipment, before mounting, mounting, alignment, data acquisition and following removal. The samples must additionally be stably aligned to within a few microns at a point in space. The ability to accurately perform these tasks remotely and automatically leads to a significant increase in sample throughput and reliability for high-volume protein characterization efforts. Since the protein samples are placed in a shipping-compatible layered stack of sample cassettes each holding many samples, a large number of samples can be shipped in a single cryogenic shipping container.

A method and apparatus for the transportation, remote and unattended mounting, and visual alignment and monitoring of protein crystals for synchrotron generated x-ray diffraction analysis. The protein samples are maintained at liquid nitrogen temperatures at all times: during shipment, before mounting, mounting, alignment, data acquisition and following removal. The samples must additionally be stably aligned to within a few microns at a point in space. The ability to accurately perform these tasks remotely and automatically leads to a significant increase in sample throughput and reliability for high-volume protein characterization efforts. Since the protein samples are placed in a shipping-compatible layered stack of sample cassettes each holding many samples, a large number of samples can be shipped in a single cryogenic shipping container.

In search of environmentally benign insecticides with high activity,low toxicity and low resistance,a series of novel anthranilic(isophthalic) acid esters was designed and synthesized based on the structure of ryanodine modulating agent.All the compounds were characterized by 1H NMR spectra,elemental analysis or high resolution mass spectrometry(HRMS).The preliminary results of biological activity assessment indicate that some of the title compounds exhibit certain but unremarkable insecticidal activity against Mythimna separata Walker at 200 mg/L and fungicidal activities against five funguses at 50 mg/L.

Full Text Available Mixed ligand copper(II complexes containing derivatives of salicylic acid and heterocyclic ligands with nitrogen donor atoms have been the subject of various studies and reviews. In this paper, synthesis and characterization of the ternary copper(II complexes of neocuproine (2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline, Neo and salicylate ligands (Sal are reported. In addition, the crystal structures of ([Cu(H2O(5-Cl-Sal(Neo] (1, [Cu(μ-Sal(Neo]2 (2, Cu2(μ-5-Cl-Sal(5-Cl-HSal2(Neo2]·EtOH (3 were determined. In order to compare structural and biological properties of the prepared complexes, spectroscopic and biological studies were performed. Results of X-ray diffraction show that prepared complexes form three types of crystal structures in a given system: monomeric, dimeric and dinuclear complex. The preliminary study on the DNA cleavage activity has shown that the complexes under study behave as the chemical nucleases in the presence of added hydrogen peroxide with slight differences in the activity (1 > 2 > 3. The complexes 1 and 2 exhibited nuclease activity itself indicating the interaction of complexes with the DNA. It has been proposed that the enhanced destructive effect of the complexes 1 and 2 on the DNA is a result of two possible mechanisms of action: (i the conversion of closed circular DNA (form I to the nicked DNA (form II caused by the copper complex itself and (ii damage of DNA by Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS—products of the interaction of copper with hydrogen peroxide by means of Fenton reaction (hydroxyl radicals. Thus the biological activity of the prepared Cu(II complexes containing derivatives of salicylic acid and phenanthroline molecules is substantiated by two independent mechanisms. While derivatives of salicylic acids in the coordination sphere of copper complexes are responsible for radical-scavenging activity (predominantly towards superoxide radical anion, the presence of chelating ligand 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline

The ternary complexes with stoichiometry [M(imda)(bipy)]·6H2O (M = Cu) and [M(imda)(bipy)(H2O)]·4H2O (M = Ni, Co and Mn) where H2imda = iminodiacetic acid and bipy = 2,2‧-bipyridine, are prepared and characterized to exploit as novel antimicrobial agents and SOD mimics. The chemical structures were elucidated by IR, FAB-Mass, 1H, 13C NMR, EPR and spectral techniques. Single crystal X-ray and spectral studies of the complexes (1) and (2) have confirmed a square pyramidal geometry around Cu(II) ion while a saturated six coordinate (distorted octahedral) geometry around the Ni(II), Co(II) and Mn(II) ions due to the additional coordination from water. A supramolecular network is formed by extensive H-bonding in complex (1). The supramolecular assembly in complex (1) is additionally consolidated via the existence of unusual cyclic hexameric water clusters. The antimicrobial activities for the present complexes have been examined against Escherichia coli (K-12), Bacillus subtilis (MTC-121), Staphylococcus aureus (IOASA-22), Salmonella typhymurium (MTCC-98), Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus and Penicillium marneffei. The superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity of the Cu(II) complex (1) is also assessed employing nitrobluetetrazolium (NBT) assay.

The prodrug,naproxen-eugenol ester,was synthesized by acyl chloride method with naproxen and eugenol as the raw materials.The structure was identified by proton nuclear magnetic resonance(1H NMR),mass spectrometry(MS),infrared spectrometry(IR) and X-ray diffraction.The compound was crystallized in the or-thorhombic system,space group P212121 with unit cell dimensions a=0.60563(12) nm,b=1.0234(2) nm,c=3.2654(7) nm,α=90°,β=90°,γ=90°,V=2.0240(7) nm3,Z=4.Calculated density 1.235 Mg/m3; absorption coefficient:0.083 mm-1; F(000)=800; final R1=0.0564.The analgesic activity and anti-inflammatory were similar to those of naproxen,and the results of ulcerogenic activity indicate that the prodrug can significantly decrease the irritation after oral administration.

In this paper we explore the boundary between biology and the study of formal systems (logic). In the end, we arrive at a summary formalism, a chapter in "boundary mathematics" where there are not only containers but also extainers >biologic what boolean algebra is to classical logic. We show how this formalism encompasses significant parts of the logic of DNA replication, the Dirac formalism for quantum mechanics, formalisms for protein folding and the basic structure of the Temperley Lieb algebra at the foundations of topological invariants of knots and links.

We report in this paper the synthesis, spectroscopic, crystal structure, biological activities and theoretical results of the title compound. The crystal structure was defined by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. In addition, this newly synthesized hydrazone derivative was also subjected to its possible antioxidant activity with free radical scavenging ability of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals using butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) as standard antioxidant. The structural calculations were performed by the density functional theory using the B3LYP method with 6-311++G(2d,2p) basis set. The calculated values were compared with experimental results.

The compound of dimethyl trans-3-（2-bromophenyl）-2-methylisoxazolidine-4,5-dicarboxylate has been synthesized and characterized by IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 2D-NMR （COSY, NOESY, HMQC, HMBC） and UV-vis. spectroscopy techniques and single-crystal X-ray diffraction （XRD）. The biological activities of the title compound have been investigated in detail. The new compound crystallizes in monoclinic, space group C2/c with a = 26.9263（10）, b = 7.0970（2）, c = 19.8554（7） ？, and β = 126.630（2）. In addition to the single crystal structure, the molecular geometry, vibrational frequencies, chemical shifts, molecular electrostatic potential and frontier molecular orbital analysis of the title compound in the ground state have been calculated by Density Functional Theory （DFT） method.

The title compound, N-(4-methyl-6-oxo-1,6-dihydro-pyrimidin-2-yl)-N′-(2-trifluoromethyl-phenyl)-guanidine, was synthesized and its structure was confirmed by using IR, MS, 1H NMR, and elemental analysis. The single crystal structure of the title compound was determined by X-ray diffraction. The preliminary biological test showed that the synthesized compound has a weak herbicidal activity.

This paper presents a new method for doing a free-fall equivalence-principle (EP) experiment in a satellite at ambient temperature which solves two problems that have previously blocked this approach. By using large masses to change the gravity gradient at the proof masses, the orbit dynamics of a drag-free satellite may be changed in such a way that the experiment can mimic a free-fall experiment in a constant gravitational field on the earth. An experiment using a sphere surrounded by a spherical shell both completely unsupported and freefalling has previously been impractical because (1) it is not possible to distinguish between a small EP violation and a slight difference in the semi-major axes of the orbits of the two proof masses and (2) the position difference in the orbit due to an EP violation only grows as t whereas the largest disturbance grows as t3/2. Furthermore, it has not been known how to independently measure the positions of a shell and a solid sphere with sufficient accuracy. The measurement problem can be solved by using a two-color transcollimator (see the main text), and since the radial-position-error and t-response problems arise from the earth's gravity gradient and not from its gravity field, one solution is to modify the earth's gravity gradient with local masses fixed in the satellite. Since the gravity gradient at the surface of a sphere, for example, depends only on its density, the gravity gradients of laboratory masses and of the earth unlike their fields are of the same order of magnitude. In a drag-free satellite spinning perpendicular to the orbit plane, two fixed spherical masses whose connecting line parallels the satellite spin axis can generate a dc gravity gradient at test masses located between them which cancels the combined gravity gradient of the earth and differential centrifugal force. With perfect cancellation, the position-error problem vanishes and the response grows as t2 along a line which always points toward

A prototype of a 96-well plate scanner forin situdata collection has been developed at the Structural Biology Center (SBC) beamline 19-ID, located at the Advanced Photon Source, USA. The applicability of this instrument for protein crystal diffraction screening and data collection at ambient temperature has been demonstrated. Several different protein crystals, including selenium-labeled, were used for data collection and successful SAD phasing. Without the common procedure of crystal handling and subsequent cryo-cooling for data collection atT= 100 K, crystals in a crystallization buffer show remarkably low mosaicity (<0.1°) until deterioration by radiation damage occurs. Data presented here show that cryo-cooling can cause some unexpected structural changes. Based on the results of this study, the integration of the plate scanner into the 19-ID end-station with automated controls is being prepared. With improvement of hardware and software,in situdata collection will become available for the SBC user program including remote access.

An Equivalence-Principle (EP) experiment using a sphere surrounded by a spherical shell both completely unsupported and free-falling in a drag-free satellite has never been seriously considered because: 1) it has not been known how to independently measure the positions of the shell and the solid sphere with sufficient accuracy, 2) the position difference in orbit due to an EP violation only grows as t whereas the largest disturbance grows as t^{3/2}, and 3) it is not possible to distinguish between a small EP violation and a slight difference in the semi-major axes of the orbits. In a drag-free satellite spinning perpendicular to the orbit plane, two fixed spherical masses whose connecting line parallels the satellite spin axis can generate a DC gravity gradient at test masses located between them which cancels the combined gravity gradient of the earth and differential centrifugal force. With perfect cancellation, the non observability problem vanishes and the response grows as t^2 along a line which always...

We study the quantum partition function of non-relativistic, ideal gas in a (non-cubical) box falling freely in arbitrary curved spacetime with center 4-velocity u{sup a}. When perturbed energy eigenvalues are properly taken into account, we find that corrections to various thermodynamic quantities include a very specific, sub-dominant term which is independent of kinematic details such as box dimensions and mass of particles. This term is characterized by the dimensionless quantity, Ξ=R{sub 0{sup ^}0{sup ^}}Λ{sup 2}, where R{sub 0{sup ^}0{sup ^}}=R{sub ab}u{sup a}u{sup b} and Λ=βℏc, and, quite intriguingly, produces Euler relation of homogeneity two between entropy and energy – a relation familiar from black hole thermodynamics.

Doubly special relativity (DSR) is an effective model for encoding quantum gravity in flat spacetime. To incorporate DSR into general relativity, one could use "Gravity's rainbow", where the spacetime background felt by a test particle would depend on its energy. In this scenario, one could rewrite the rainbow metric $g_{\\mu\

Some compact X-ray sources show evidence of cyclotron line radiation from excited electron Landau orbits, powered by hydrogen and helium falling onto a neutron star atmosphere along the magnetic field. The slowing of the incident matter is discussed, including the spread in energy loss due to Coulomb scattering and direct nuclear reactions for disintegrating the α particles. The α disintegrations, followed by neutron capture, lead to nuclear γ rays; the γ-ray intensity is (indirectly) coupled to the Coulomb energy loss and the cyclotron line emission.

We study the quantum partition function of non-relativistic, ideal gas in a (non-cubical) box falling freely in arbitrary curved spacetime with centre 4-velocity u^a. Using perturbed energy eigenvalues to evaluate the canonical partition function, we find that corrections to various thermodynamic quantities such as mean energy, entropy and specific heat include a very specific, sub-dominant term characterized by the dimensionless quantity, X = R_00 q^2, where R_00 = R_ab u^a u^b and q = \\beta \\hbar c. This X-contribution does not depend on kinematic details of the system such as box dimensions and mass of particles, and in particular leads to S_X = (1/2) \\beta U_X (see text), a relation familiar from black hole thermodynamics. What is curious is that our result depends crucially on quantum mechanics since, in effect, the gas is allowed to "feel" the presence of the box through use of unperturbed wave function satisfying appropriate boundary conditions at the box walls. This is the feature which a classical an...

The technique of ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS) has become of increasing interest for rapid analysis of the conformations adopted by biological macromolecules. It is currently used routinely for analysis of explosives and illegal substances in airport and military security. In biophysical research, it can be used to determine the temperature dependent rotationally averaged collision cross section of gas-phase ions of proteins and nucleic acids along with their mass to charge ratios. Nanoelectrospray ionisation allows the gentle transfer of intact biomolecules from solutions in which the native form(s) are present, into the solvent free environment of a mass spectrometer. It is believed by many researchers that the experimental collision cross sections of these molecules should have some relationship to crystal structure coordinates. In this review we outline the different experimental methods that can be used to measure ion mobility; we also describe methods used to calculate collision cross sections from input coordinates. Following this survey of the methodological approaches to IM-MS, we then summarise IM-MS data published to date for some monomeric peptides and small soluble proteins, along with collision cross sections calculated from their crystal structure coordinates. Finally we consider the relationship between experimental gas-phase conformations and those adopted in crystals and give an outlook on the application of IM-MS as a tool for structural biology.

Electron crystallography has evolved as a method that can be used either alternatively or in combination with three-dimensional crystallization and X-ray crystallography to study structure-function questions of membrane proteins, as well as soluble proteins. Screening for two-dimensional (2D) crystals by transmission electron microscopy (EM) is the critical step in finding, optimizing, and selecting samples for high-resolution data collection by cryo-EM. Here we describe the fundamental steps in identifying both large and ordered, as well as small 2D arrays, that can potentially supply critical information for optimization of crystallization conditions. By working with different magnifications at the EM, data on a range of critical parameters is obtained. Lower magnification supplies valuable data on the morphology and membrane size. At higher magnifications, possible order and 2D crystal dimensions are determined. In this context, it is described how CCD cameras and online-Fourier Transforms are used at higher magnifications to assess proteoliposomes for order and size. While 2D crystals of membrane proteins are most commonly grown by reconstitution by dialysis, the screening technique is equally applicable for crystals produced with the help of monolayers, native 2D crystals, and ordered arrays of soluble proteins. In addition, the methods described here are applicable to the screening for 2D crystals of even smaller as well as larger membrane proteins, where smaller proteins require the same amount of care in identification as our examples and the lattice of larger proteins might be more easily identifiable at earlier stages of the screening.

在500～700℃和生物质混合比0～100％(质量分数)条件下,利用自由落下床反应器考察原料对生物质与煤共热解行为的影响.所用煤原料为大雁褐煤(DY)和铁法烟煤(TF),而生物质原料为农业废弃物秸秆(LS)和木材加工余料白松木屑(SD).结果表明,即使在自由落下床中停留时间短的条件下,生物质与煤共热解的协同效应仍然发生.原料种类对共热解产品的产率和半焦反应性影响大:以综纤维素和灰分含量大的LS为原料时,共热解的协同效应比以SD为原料时明显；以高阶煤TF为原料时,共热解的液体产率高于以低阶煤DY为原料时的产率；在特定条件下共热解可提高半焦的反应性；与TF相比,DY存在下的共热解有利于提高半焦的反应性.在生物质与煤共热解过程中,通过选择适当原料可以制取目标产品.%Effects of feedstock on the co-pyrolysis of biomass and coal were investigated in a freefall reactor at 500°C～700°Cwith biomass blending ratio of 0 ～100％(mass ratio).The selected coal samples were Dayan brown coal (DY) and Tiefa bituminous coal(TF),and the biomass samples were agricultural residues legume straw (LS) and woody residues pine sawdust (SD).The results indicate that the synergy can occur even in a short gas residence time during the co-pyrolysis of biomass and coal in a free-fall reactor.The product yields and the CO2 reactivity of char from the co-pyrolysis are greatly influenced by the type of feedstock.The synergy in the presence of LS with high holocellulose and ash content is more significant than that in the presence of SD.The liquid yield of high rank TF co-pyrolysis is higher than that of low rank DY coal.The char reactivity can be improved by the co-pyrolysis at specific conditions.The co-pyrolysis in presence of DY can improve the reactivity of the produced char.

A new polymorph belonging to the tetrahydropyrimidinium class of compounds, namely 6-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-(methoxycarbonyl)-4-methyl-2-(3-(trifluoromethylthio)phenylamino)-3,6-dihydropyrimidin-1-ium chloride, and a hydrate of 2-(3-bromophenylamino)-6-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-(methoxycarbonyl)-4-methyl-3,6-dihydropyrimidin-1-ium chloride, have been isolated and characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD). A detailed comprehensive analysis of the crystal packing in terms of the associated intermolecular interactions and a quantification of their interaction energies have been performed for both forms of the two different organic salts (A and B) using X-ray crystallography and computational methods such as density functional theory (DFT) quantum mechanical calculations, PIXEL lattice-energy calculations (with decomposition of total lattice energy into the Coulombic, polarization, dispersion and repulsion contribution), the calculation of the Madelung constant (the EUGEN method), Hirshfeld and two-dimensional fingerprint plots. The presence of ionic [N-H](+)···Cl(-) and [C-H](+)···Cl(-) hydrogen bonds mainly stabilizes the crystal packing in both forms A and B, while in the case of B·H2O [N-H](+)···O(water) and O(water)-H···Cl(-) hydrogen bonds along with [N-H](+)···Cl(-) and [C-H](+)···Cl(-) provide stability to the crystal packing. The lattice-energy calculations from both PIXEL and EUGEN methods revealed that in the case of A, form (I) (monoclinic) is more stable whereas for B it is the anhydrous form that is more stable. The analysis of the `Madelung mode' of crystal packing of two forms of A and B and its hydrates suggest that differences exist in the position of the charged ions/atoms in the organic solid state. The R/E (distance-energy) plots for all the crystal structures show that the molecular pairs in their crystal packing are connected with either highly stabilizing (due to the presence of organic R(+) and Cl(-)) or highly

Crystallization is a key step in macromolecular structure determination by crystallography. While a robust theoretical treatment of the process is available, due to the complexity of the system, the experimental process is still largely one of trial and error. In this article, efforts in the field are discussed together with a theoretical underpinning using a solubility phase diagram. Prior knowledge has been used to develop tools that computationally predict the crystallization outcome and define mutational approaches that enhance the likelihood of crystallization. For the most part these tools are based on binary outcomes (crystal or no crystal), and the full information contained in an assembly of crystallization screening experiments is lost. The potential of this additional information is illustrated by examples where new biological knowledge can be obtained and where a target can be sub-categorized to predict which class of reagents provides the crystallization driving force. Computational analysis of crystallization requires complete and correctly formatted data. While massive crystallization screening efforts are under way, the data available from many of these studies are sparse. The potential for this data and the steps needed to realize this potential are discussed.

When a lifeboat falls into water,great impact pulses are created.They are transmitted from the body to the base and engine block and finally to the power units.These impulses will have great effect on the safety and reliability of the crankshaft.A 380J diesel engine with 3 cylinders is used as the main engine of the lifeboat studied in this paper.With multi-body dynamics and contrast study,lubricating characteristics are analyzed in the presence and absence of impact impulses.The results are shown as follows.Considering of the impact im-pulse,the pressure of oil film of the 3rdmain journal changes from 33MPa to 142MPa and the minimum thickness of oil film is 0.002mm.The oil film is not broken.This study provides important reference when dealing with the reliability design of freefall lifeboats.%自由抛落式救生艇入水过程开始时，艇体与水面接触瞬间将产生巨大的冲击力脉冲，这一冲击力从艇体传递至基座和机体，最终传递至动力部件，从而影响到曲轴的安全性和可靠性．以某救生艇为研究对象，其主机配置为380J三缸柴油机，应用多体动力学仿真，通过对比性研究，分析了其主轴承在未考虑冲击载荷作用和考虑冲击载荷作用两种工况下曲轴的润滑特性．得出如下结果：考虑冲击载荷作用之后，3＃主轴颈油膜压力由33 MPa突变至142 MPa，最小油膜厚度为0.002 mm，油膜并未被破坏，研究结果为高海况海洋平台自由抛落式救生艇的可靠性设计提供重要参考．

Objective: to demonstrate, using imaging methods (x-ray, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound (US), the phases of hydroxyapatite crystal deposition disease in joints, particularly in the shoulder, from the silent phase to the intra-osseous migration of calcifications and radiologic follow-up examinations showing complete remission after physical therapy. Material and method: we evaluated 27 joints (25 shoulders, one hip and one elbow) of patients followed-up with radiographs. Patients extremely symptomatic and refractory to treatment were referred to MRI or US. Results: total remission of calcifications was observed in 15 joints after treatment - 14 shoulders and one elbow. In two joint, migration of the calcification to bone was observed: one to the bursa subdeltoidea, one to biceps tendon, one to subcoracoid recess and one to the interior of the infra spinal muscle. In two cases MRI and CT scans showed a high inflammatory process triggered by the disease. Conclusion: hydroxyapatite crystal deposition disease affects multiple joints and can vary from asymptomatic to extremely symptomatic. Imaging methods show all phases of the disease, including the migratory phase. In general, the use of x-ray is enough for the diagnosis and follow-up. MRI and CT provide a more accurate diagnosis in the active phase of the disease. In this paper, remission was seen with physiotherapy (iontophoresis) in 55% of the cases. (author)

The two title compounds,2-oxo-2-p-tolyl-1-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)ethyl phenylcarbamodithioate(compound 3a) and2-oxo-2-p-biphenyl-1-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)ethyl phenylcarbamodithioate(compound 3b), were synthesized and identified by IR, EA and 1H NMR spectra. The crystal structure of compound 3b was determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. The compound crystallized in a monoclinic system of space group P21/c with Mr =398.47(C23H18N4OS),a=0.8769(2) nm,b=1.1924(2) nm, c=2.0440(6) nm,β=109.66(3)°,V=2.0126(8) nm3,Z=4, Dc=1.315 g/cm3, F(000)=832,μ=0.183 mm-1, final R1 =0.0819. The biological test result shows that the two title compounds exhibit certain fungicidal activities.

The present invention provides a digital topography imaging system for determining the crystalline structure of a biological macromolecule, wherein the system employs a charge coupled device (CCD) camera with antiblooming circuitry to directly convert x-ray signals to electrical signals without the use of phosphor and measures reflection profiles from the x-ray emitting source after x-rays are passed through a sample. Methods for using said system are also provided.

In prokaryotes, RNA derived from type I and type III CRISPR loci direct large ribonucleoprotein complexes to destroy invading bacteriophage and plasmids. In Escherichia coli, this 405-kilodalton complex is called Cascade. We report the crystal structure of Cascade bound to a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) target at a resolution of 3.03 angstroms. The structure reveals that the CRISPR RNA and target strands do not form a double helix but instead adopt an underwound ribbon-like structure. This noncanonical structure is facilitated by rotation of every sixth nucleotide out of the RNA-DNA hybrid and is stabilized by the highly interlocked organization of protein subunits. These studies provide insight into both the assembly and the activity of this complex and suggest a mechanism to enforce fidelity of target binding.

Full Text Available (Z-N′-(2-Oxoindolin-3-ylideneformohydrazide (2 was synthesized by the reaction of (Z-3-hydrazonoindolin-2-one (1 with formic acid under reflux. The structure of 2 was characterized by IR, Mass, 1H NMR, and X-ray crystal structure determination. Interestingly, compound 2 appeared in DMSO-d6 as cis and trans amide rotomers in 25% and 75%, respectively. The X-ray analysis showed the Z geometrical isomer of 2 around –C=N– for cis and trans amide rotomers. The crystal of 2 belongs to monoclinic, space group P21/c, with a=4.5206 (1 Å, b=22.4747 (7 Å, c=17.3637 (5 Å, β=103.752 (1°, Z=8, V=1713.57 (8 Å3, Dc=1.467 Mg m−3, μ=0.11 mm−1, F(000=784, R=0.047, and wR=0.123 for 3798 observed reflections with I>2σ(I. Compound 2 exhibited a moderate activity in its antimicrobial evaluation against E. coli and P. aeruginosa and a good activity against S. aureus close to that of the standard drug ciprofloxacin. The in vitro anticancer activity of 2 was evaluated against two human tumor cell lines, namely, HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma and MCF-7 breast cancer. HepG2 cancer cell line was more susceptible to compound 2 than MCF-7.

Two centrosymmetric D-π-D type triphenylamine chromophores with long π-conjugated bridge and strong electron-donating moiety were designed, synthesized and fully characterized. The crystal analysis revealed that multiple Csbnd H &ctdot; π interactions existed in two chromophores, which played a crucial role in generating molecular 1D chains and 2D layers structures. Linear and nonlinear optical properties of the chromophores were systematically investigated with the aid of theoretical calculations. Two chromophores both exhibited intense and wide-dispersed one-photon/two-photon excited fluorescence, bear prodigious 2PA cross section (δ). Especially for Dye2, with ethyoxyl groups, displayed the strong 2PA activity, large cross-sections (δmax > 16,000 GM) and high NLO efficiency (δmax/MW > 16 GM/(g·mol)) in the range of 680-830 nm in DMF. In addition, one- and two-photon fluorescence microscopy images of HepG2 cells incubated with Dye2 were obtained and found that Dye2 could effectively uptake toward living cells and display a uniformly localized in cytosolic space.

When treating the plants seeds with nano-materials there are some quality and quantity changes of polysaccharides, the molecular mass increase and monosaccharides change that leads to the increase of physiological and pharmacological activity of carbohydrates got from medicinal plants. We have got water soluble polysaccharides and nano-metals combinations containing 0.000165-0.000017 mg/dm3 of the metal. In a case of induced anemia the blood composition has practically restored on the 10th day of the treatment with nanocomposites. The use of pectin polysaccharides (that are attributed to modifiers of biological respond) to get nano-structured materials seems to be actual relative to their physiological activity (radio nuclides persorption, heavy metals ions, bacteria cells and their toxins; lipids metabolism normalization; bowels secreting and motor functions activation and modulation of the endocrine system.

Full Text Available A series of barbiturates derivatives synthesized and screened for different set of bioassays are described. The molecular structures of compounds 5a, 5d, and 5f were solved by single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques. The results of bioassay show that compounds 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e, 4f, and 4g are potent antioxidants in comparison to the tested standards, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT, and N-acetylcysteine. Compounds 4a–4e (IC50=101.8±0.8–124.4±4.4 μM and 4g (IC50=104.1±1.9 μM were more potent antioxidants than the standard (BHT, IC50=128.8±2.1 μM. The enzyme inhibition potential of these compounds was also evaluated, in vitro, against thymidine phosphorylase, α-glucosidase, and β-glucuronidase enzymes. Compounds 4c, 4h, 4o, 4p, 4q, 5f, and 5m were found to be potent α-glucosidase inhibitors and showed more activity than the standard drug acarbose, whereas compounds 4v, and 5h were found to be potent thymidine phosphorylase inhibitors, more active than the standard drug, 7-deazaxanthine. All barbiturates derivatives (4a–4x, 4z, and 5a–5m were found to be noncytotoxic against human prostate (PC-3, Henrietta Lacks cervical (HeLa and Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 breast (MCF-7 cancer cell lines, and 3T3 normal fibroblast cell line, except 4y which was cytotoxic against all the cell lines.

Biological systems exhibit properties of amorphous materials. The Mn(II) ion in amorphous materials is characterized by distributions of spin-Hamiltonian parameters around mean values. It has a certain advantage over other ions, being one of the most abundant elements on the earth. The extent to which living organisms utilize manganese varies from one organism to the other. There is a fairly high concentration of the Mn(II) ion in green plants, which use it in the O2 evolution reaction of photosynthesis (Sauer, 1980). Structure-reactivity relationships in Mn(II)-O2 complexes are given in a review article by Coleman and Taylor (1980). Manganese is a trace requirement in animal nutrition; highly elevated levels of manganese in the diet can be toxic, probably because of an interference with iron homeostasis (Underwood, 1971). On the other hand, animals raised with a dietary deficiency of manganese exhibit severe abnormalities in connective tissue; these problems have been attributed to the obligatory role of Mn(II) in mucopolysaccharide metabolism (Leach, 1971). Mn(II) has been detected unequivocally in living organisms.

The key concepts that attracted crystal growers, macromolecular or solid state, to microgravity research is that density difference fluid flows and sedimentation of the growing crystals are greatly reduced. Thus, defects and flaws in the crystals can be reduced, even eliminated, and crystal volume can be increased. Macromolecular crystallography differs from the field of crystalline semiconductors. For the latter, crystals are harnessed for their electrical behaviors. A crystal of a biological macromolecule is used instead for diffraction experiments (X-ray or neutron) to determine the three-dimensional structure of the macromolecule. The better the internal order of the crystal of a biological macromolecule then the more molecular structure detail that can be extracted. This structural information that enables an understanding of how the molecule functions. This knowledge is changing the biological and chemical sciences with major potential in understanding disease pathologies. Macromolecular structural crystallography in general is a remarkable field where physics, biology, chemistry, and mathematics meet to enable insight to the basic fundamentals of life. In this review, we examine the use of microgravity as an environment to grow macromolecular crystals. We describe the crystallization procedures used on the ground, how the resulting crystals are studied and the knowledge obtained from those crystals. We address the features desired in an ordered crystal and the techniques used to evaluate those features in detail. We then introduce the microgravity environment, the techniques to access that environment, and the theory and evidence behind the use of microgravity for crystallization experiments. We describe how ground-based laboratory techniques have been adapted to microgravity flights and look at some of the methods used to analyze the resulting data. Several case studies illustrate the physical crystal quality improvements and the macromolecular structural

Arylpiperazine derivatives received special attention owing to their antagonist potency on α1-adrenoceptors (α1-ARs). In this work, quinoline-arylpiperazine derivative (1) was synthesized and its structural properties were investigated using single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and theoretical calculations. Biological evaluation in vitro revealed that compound 1 exhibited a 3-fold higher selectivity for α1A-AR over than α1B subtype when compared to non-selective antagonist prazosin. Molecular docking studies shed light on the antagonistic activity of both 1 and prazosin on α1A and α1B-AR. The docking results suggested that residues Gln177, Phe86, Phe288, Phe308, Phe312 and Tyr316 were identified as the major sites for the two agents binding to the α1A receptor. As depicted by pharmacophoric model, 1 was deemed to be the α1A-selective antagonist on the basis of pharmacophoric features. Our present work may provide valuable information for better drug design of subtype-selective α1-AR antagonists.

Density difference fluid flows and sedimentation of growing crystals are greatly reduced when crystallization takes place in a reduced gravity environment. In the case of macromolecular crystallography a crystal of a biological macromolecule is used for diffraction experiments (x-ray or neutron) so as to determine the three-dimensional structure of the macromolecule. The better the internal order of the crystal then the greater the molecular structure detail that can be extracted. It is this structural information that enables an understanding of how the molecule functions. This knowledge is changing the biological and chemical sciences, with major potential in understanding disease pathologies. In this review, we examine the use of microgravity as an environment to grow macromolecular crystals. We describe the crystallization procedures used on the ground, how the resulting crystals are studied and the knowledge obtained from those crystals. We address the features desired in an ordered crystal and the techniques used to evaluate those features in detail. We then introduce the microgravity environment, the techniques to access that environment and the theory and evidence behind the use of microgravity for crystallization experiments. We describe how ground-based laboratory techniques have been adapted to microgravity flights and look at some of the methods used to analyse the resulting data. Several case studies illustrate the physical crystal quality improvements and the macromolecular structural advances. Finally, limitations and alternatives to microgravity and future directions for this research are covered. Macromolecular structural crystallography in general is a remarkable field where physics, biology, chemistry and mathematics meet to enable insight to the fundamentals of life. As the reader will see, there is a great deal of physics involved when the microgravity environment is applied to crystallization, some of it known, and undoubtedly much yet to

A major factor governing the performance of catalytically active particles supported on a zeolite carrier is the degree of dispersion. It is shown that the introduction of noncrystallographic mesopores into zeolite single crystals (silicalite-1, ZSM-5) may increase the degree of particle dispersion...... of the zeolite particles, particularly after thermal treatment. When using mesoporous zeolites, the particles were evenly distributed throughout the mesopore system of the zeolitic support, even after calcination, leading to nanocrystals within mesoporous zeolite single crystals....

In the present study, the spectroscopic characterization of a new series of substituted thiazole linked pyrazoline scaffolds 4a-l was performed. The formation of 4a-l from the intermediate 3-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-[4-(propan-2-yl)phenyl]-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazole-1-carbothioamide 2 and substituted 2-bromo-1-phenylethanone 3a-l was evidenced through the changes in FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, LCMS data. The X-ray diffraction studies revealed that compound 2 and 4g crystallized in monoclinic crystal system with P21/n space group. Compound 4j crystallized in triclinic system, P1¯ space group with Z = 4. The percentage of intermolecular contacts and distribution of electrostatic potential of molecular crystal structures was resolved by Hirshfeld surface analysis with 2D finger plots and electrostatic potential map. The newly synthesized derivatives were screened for their in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. The single crystal studies revealed that, for compounds 2, 4g and 4j the isopropyl phenyl ring is positioned at near right angle with the other rings. Due to the lack of planarity of bulkier group substituted to phenyl ring (ring B), all the synthesized molecules showed weak to moderate radical scavenging capacity owing to the destabilization of the radical formed during oxidation. Also, on performing molecular docking studies to explore the interactions of ligand with the target pyrimidine nucleoside hydrolase YbeK with bound ribose complex (PNH, PDB ID-3GHW), disclosed that active compounds emerged for in vitro studies also bound to PNH more efficiently. The compounds with polar group substitution interacted through hydrogen bonding while other molecules with non-covalent interactions.

This paper provides a first example of experiments in this column using smartphones as experimental tools. More examples concerning this special tool will follow in the next issues. The differences between a smartphone and a ``regular'' cell phone are that smartphones offer more advanced computing ability and connectivity. Smartphones combine the functions of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and cell phones.

commander of the MFFC, the biggest cost factor of the expansion project is “ wasted blade time,” or the dwell time while aircraft sit on the tarmac with...USAJFKSWCS 2015). Up to two hours each day are wasted on dwell time, with a cost of $4,500 per hour (J. Enke, personal communication, 2016). The... zero . The major difference between the scenarios is that students have two packed parachutes in Scenario 2, which eliminates dwell time. The average

In this study, the vertical motion of a particle in a quiescent fluid falling toward a horizontal plane wall is analyzed, based on simplified models. Using the distance between the particle and wall as a parameter, the effects of various forces acting on the particle and the particle motion are examined. Without the colloidal and Brownian forces being included, the velocity of small particles is found to be approximately equal to the inverse of the drag force correction function used in this study as the particle approaches the near-wall region. Colloidal force is added to the particle equation of motion as the particle moves a distance comparable to its size. It is found that the particle might become suspended above or deposited onto the wall, depending on the Hamaker constant, the surface potentials of the particle and wall, and the thickness of the electrical double layer (EDL). For strong EDL repulsive force and weaker van der Waals (VDW) attractive force, the particle will become suspended above the wall at a distance at which the particle velocity is zero. This location is referred to as the equilibrium distance. The equilibrium distance is found to increase with increased in EDL thickness when a repulsive force barrier appears in the colloidal force interaction. For the weak EDL repulsive force and strong VDW attractive force case, the particle can become deposited onto the wall without the Brownian motion effect. The Brownian jump length was found to be very small. Many Brownian jumps would be required in a direction toward the wall for a suspended particle to become deposited.

A new N-sulfonamide ligand (HL1= N-(5-(4-methoxyphenyl)-[1,3,4]âthiadiazoleâ2-yl)-toluenesulfonamide)and two Cu(II) complexes, $[Cu(L1)­_{2}(py)_{2}]$ (C1) and $[Cu(L2)_{2}(py)_{2}(H_{2}O)]$ (C2) (HL2 = N-(5-(4-methylphenyl)-[1,3,4]âthiadiazoleâ2-yl)-benzenesulfonamide) were synthesized. The X-ray crystal structuresof the complexes were determined. In the complex C1, the Cu(II) ion is four-coordinated, forming a $CuN_{4}$ chromophore and in the complex C2, the Cu(II) ion is five-coordinated, forming a $CuN_{4}O$ chromophore. Theligand acts as monodentate, coordinating the Cu(II) ion through a single $N_{thiadiazole}$ atom. The molecules fromthe reaction medium (pyridine and water) are also involved in the coordination of the Cu(II) ion. The complexesC1 and C2 are square-planar and a slightly distorted square pyramidal, respectively. The compounds werecharacterized by FT-IR, electronic, EPR spectroscopic and magnetic methods. The nuclease binding activitystudies of the synthesized complexes confirm their capacity to cleave the DNA molecule. The cytotoxicitystudies were carried out on melanoma cell line WM35 which confirm that both compounds inhibit the growthof these cells. They have a higher activity compared to a platinum drug, carboplatin.

A new nano-sized copper (II) complex, [Cu(L)] with a tetra dentate Schiff base ligand, 2-((E)-(2-(E-5- bromo-2-hydroxybezenylideneamino) methyl)-4-bromophenol [H2L] was prepared by the reaction between of Cu (CH3COO)2·2H2O and (H2L) ligand with the ratio of 1:1, at the present of triethylamine by sonochemical method. The structure of [Cu (L)] complex was determined by FT-IR, UV-Vis, FESEM and molar conductivity. The structure of [Cu (L)] complex was characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The geometry of [Cu (L)] complex was optimized using density functional theory (DFT) method with the B3LYP/6-31(d) level of theory. The calculated bond lengths and bond angles are in good agreement with the X-ray data. This complex was used as a novel precursor for preparing of CuO nano particles by the thermal decomposition method. The antibacterial activities of [H2L] ligand, nano-sized [Cu (L)] complex and nano-sized CuO have been screened against various strains of bacteria. According to the results, nano-sized CuO can be considered as an appropriate antibiotic agent.

The amount of pollutants produced during manufacturing processes of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) substantially increases due to an increasing production of the opto-electronic industry in Taiwan. This study presents the treatment performance of one aerobic and one anoxic/oxic (A/O) sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) treating synthetic TFT-LCD wastewater containing dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), monoethanolamine (MEA), and tetra-methyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH). The long-term monitoring results for the aerobic and A/O SBRs demonstrate that stable biodegradation of DMSO, MEA, and TMAH can be achieved without any considerably adverse impacts. The ammonium released during MEA and TMAH degradation can also be completely oxidized to nitrate through nitrification in both SBRs. Batch studies on biodegradation rates for DMSO, MEA, and TMAH under anaerobic, anoxic, and aerobic conditions indicate that effective MEA degradation can be easily achieved under all three conditions examined, while efficient DMSO and TMAH degradation can be attained only under anaerobic and aerobic conditions, respectively. The potential odor problem caused by the formation of malodorous dimethyl sulfide from DMSO degradation under anaerobic conditions, however, requires insightful consideration in treating DMSO-containing wastewater.

The low-energy effective theories for gapped insulators are classified by three parameters: permittivity $\\epsilon$, permeability $\\mu$, and theta angle $\\theta$. Crystals with periodic $\\epsilon$ are known as photonic crystals. We here study the band structure of photons in a new type of crystals with periodic $\\theta$ (modulo $2\\pi$) in space, which we call the axion crystals. We find that the axion crystals have a number of new properties that the usual photonic crystals do not possess, such as the helicity-dependent photonic band gaps and the nonrelativistic gapless dispersion relation at small momentum. We briefly discuss possible realizations of axion crystals in condensed matter systems as well as high-energy physics.

A novel family of compounds derivative of 1,1‧-(((ethane-1,2-diylbis(oxy))bis(4,1-phenylene))bis(methylene))-bispyridinium or -bisquinolinium bromide (10a-l) containing a pair of oxygen atoms in the spacer of the linker between the biscationic moieties, were synthesized and evaluated as inhibitors of choline kinase against a panel of cancer-cell lines. The most promising compounds in this series were 1,1‧-(((ethane-1,2-diylbis(oxy))bis(4,1-phenylene))bis(methylene))bis(4-(dimethylamino)pyridinium) bromide (10a) and 1,1‧-(((ethane-1,2-diylbis(oxy))bis(4,1-phenylene))bis(methylene))-bis(7-chloro-4-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)quinolinium) bromide (10l), which inhibit human choline kinase (ChoKα1) with IC50 of 1.0 and 0.92 μM, respectively, in a range similar to that of the previously reported biscationic compounds MN58b and RSM932A. Our compounds show greater antiproliferative activities than do the reference compounds, with unprecedented values of GI50 in the nanomolar range for several of the cancer-cell lines assayed, and more importantly they present low toxicity in non-tumoral cell lines, suggesting a cancer-cell-selective antiproliferative activity. Docking studies predict that the compounds interact with the choline-binding site in agreement with the binding mode of most previously reported biscationic compounds. Moreover, the crystal structure of ChoKα1 with compound 10a reveals that this compound binds to the choline-binding site and mimics HC-3 binding mode as never before.

The tail terminator protein (TrP) plays an essential role in phage tail assembly by capping the rapidly polymerizing tail once it has reached its requisite length and serving as the interaction surface for phage heads. Here, we present the 2.7-A crystal structure of a hexameric ring of gpU, the TrP of phage ?. Using sequence alignment analysis and site-directed mutagenesis, we have shown that this multimeric structure is biologically relevant and we have delineated its functional surfaces. Comparison of the hexameric crystal structure with the solution structure of gpU that we previously solved using NMR spectroscopy shows large structural changes occurring upon multimerization and suggests a mechanism that allows gpU to remain monomeric at high concentrations on its own, yet polymerize readily upon contact with an assembled tail tube. The gpU hexamer displays several flexible loops that play key roles in head and tail binding, implying a role for disorder-to-order transitions in controlling assembly as has been observed with other ? morphogenetic proteins. Finally, we have found that the hexameric structure of gpU is very similar to the structure of a putative TrP from a contractile phage tail even though it displays no detectable sequence similarity. This finding coupled with further bioinformatic investigations has led us to conclude that the TrPs of non-contractile-tailed phages, such as ?, are evolutionarily related to those of contractile-tailed phages, such as P2 and Mu, and that all long-tailed phages may utilize a conserved mechanism for tail termination.

Single-crystal neutron diffraction measures the elastic Bragg reflection intensities from crystals of a material, the structure of which is the subject of investigation. A single crystal is placed in a beam of neutrons produced at a nuclear reactor or at a proton accelerator-based spallation source. Single-crystal diffraction measurements are commonly made at thermal neutron beam energies, which correspond to neutron wavelengths in the neighborhood of 1 Angstrom. For high-resolution studies requiring shorter wavelengths (ca. 0.3-0.8 Angstroms), a pulsed spallation source or a high-temperature moderator (a ''hot source'') at a reactor may be used. When complex structures with large unit-cell repeats are under investigation, as is the case in structural biology, a cryogenic-temperature moderator (a ''cold source'') may be employed to obtain longer neutron wavelengths (ca. 4-10 Angstroms). A single-crystal neutron diffraction analysis will determine the crystal structure of the material, typically including its unit cell and space group, the positions of the atomic nuclei and their mean-square displacements, and relevant site occupancies. Because the neutron possesses a magnetic moment, the magnetic structure of the material can be determined as well, from the magnetic contribution to the Bragg intensities. This latter aspect falls beyond the scope of the present unit; for information on magnetic scattering of neutrons see Unit 14.3. Instruments for single-crystal diffraction (single-crystal diffractometers or SCDs) are generally available at the major neutron scattering center facilities. Beam time on many of these instruments is available through a proposal mechanism. A listing of neutron SCD instruments and their corresponding facility contacts is included in an appendix accompanying this unit.

RNA molecules may be crystallized using variations of the methods developed for protein crystallography. As the technology has become available to syntheisize and purify RNA molecules in the quantities and with the quality that is required for crystallography, the field of RNA structure has exploded. The first consideration when crystallizing an RNA is the sequence, which may be varied in a rational way to enhance crystallizability or prevent formation of alternate structures. Once a sequence has been designed, the RNA may be synthesized chemically by solid-state synthesis, or it may be produced enzymatically using RNA polymerase and an appropriate DNA template. Purification of milligram quantities of RNA can be accomplished by HPLC or gel electrophoresis. As with proteins, crystallization of RNA is usually accomplished by vapor diffusion techniques. There are several considerations that are either unique to RNA crystallization or more important for RNA crystallization. Techniques for design, synthesis, purification, and crystallization of RNAs will be reviewed here.

Nucleation, growth and perfection of protein crystals will be overviewed along with crystal mechanical properties. The knowledge is based on experiments using optical and force crystals behave similar to inorganic crystals, though with a difference in orders of magnitude in growing parameters. For example, the low incorporation rate of large biomolecules requires up to 100 times larger supersaturation to grow protein, rather than inorganic crystals. Nucleation is often poorly reproducible, partly because of turbulence accompanying the mixing of precipitant with protein solution. Light scattering reveals fluctuations of molecular cluster size, its growth, surface energies and increased clustering as protein ages. Growth most often occurs layer-by-layer resulting in faceted crystals. New molecular layer on crystal face is terminated by a step where molecular incorporation occurs. Quantitative data on the incorporation rate will be discussed. Rounded crystals with molecularly disordered interfaces will be explained. Defects in crystals compromise the x-ray diffraction resolution crucially needed to find the 3D atomic structure of biomolecules. The defects are immobile so that birth defects stay forever. All lattice defects known for inorganics are revealed in protein crystals. Contribution of molecular conformations to lattice disorder is important, but not studied. This contribution may be enhanced by stress field from other defects. Homologous impurities (e.g., dimers, acetylated molecules) are trapped more willingly by a growing crystal than foreign protein impurities. The trapped impurities induce internal stress eliminated in crystals exceeding a critical size (part of mni for ferritin, lysozyme). Lesser impurities are trapped from stagnant, as compared to the flowing, solution. Freezing may induce much more defects unless quickly amorphysizing intracrystalline water.

Sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) have been used to study the molecular surface structure, surface topography and mechanical properties, and quantitative adsorbed amount of biological molecules at the solid-liquid interface. The molecular-level behavior of designed peptides adsorbed on hydrophobic polystyrene and hydrophilic silica substrates has been examined as a model of protein adsorption on polymeric biomaterial surfaces. Proteins are such large and complex molecules that it is difficult to identify the features in their structure that lead to adsorption and interaction with solid surfaces. Designed peptides which possess secondary structure provide simple model systems for understanding protein adsorption. Depending on the amino acid sequence of a peptide, different secondary structures (α-helix and β-sheet) can be induced at apolar (air/liquid or air/solid) interfaces. Having a well-defined secondary structure allows experiments to be carried out under controlled conditions, where it is possible to investigate the affects of peptide amino acid sequence and chain length, concentration, buffering effects, etc. on adsorbed peptide structure. The experiments presented in this dissertation demonstrate that SFG vibrational spectroscopy can be used to directly probe the interaction of adsorbing biomolecules with a surface or interface. The use of well designed model systems aided in isolation of the SFG signal of the adsorbing species, and showed that surface functional groups of the substrate are sensitive to surface adsorbates. The complementary techniques of AFM and QCM allowed for deconvolution of the effects of surface topography and coverage from the observed SFG spectra. Initial studies of biologically relevant surfaces are also presented: SFG spectroscopy was used to study the surface composition of common soil bacteria for use in bioremediation of nuclear waste.

Protein crystallization was discovered by chance about 150 years ago and was developed in the late 19th century as a powerful purification tool and as a demonstration of chemical purity. The crystallization of proteins, nucleic acids and large biological complexes, such as viruses, depends on the creation of a solution that is supersaturated in the macromolecule but exhibits conditions that do not significantly perturb its natural state. Supersaturation is produced through the addition of mild precipitating agents such as neutral salts or polymers, and by the manipulation of various parameters that include temperature, ionic strength and pH. Also important in the crystallization process are factors that can affect the structural state of the macromolecule, such as metal ions, inhibitors, cofactors or other conventional small molecules. A variety of approaches have been developed that combine the spectrum of factors that effect and promote crystallization, and among the most widely used are vapor diffusion, dialysis, batch and liquid-liquid diffusion. Successes in macromolecular crystallization have multiplied rapidly in recent years owing to the advent of practical, easy-to-use screening kits and the application of laboratory robotics. A brief review will be given here of the most popular methods, some guiding principles and an overview of current technologies.

真空系统中落体做自由下落运动的轨迹重建算法,是进行拟合求解绝对重力测量结果的关键步骤之一.在自主研制小型高精度激光干涉绝对重力仪的过程中,基于目前高速发展的数字测量技术,提出一种自由落体轨迹重建的算法.其基本原理是:首先通过高速采样,得到落体自由下落过程中产生的一系列数字化的激光干涉信号；其次通过数字处理算法提取干涉信号每次过零前后采样点的时间坐标；然后按照相同的下落高度均分这些过零点,得到落体运动轨迹上的“时间-位移”坐标,从而重建落体轨迹.模拟实验表明,该算法时间平均误差在±0.01ns范围以内,由此引入的计算测量重力加速度平均误差为5.2×10-12m/s2,一次完整测量循环的时间为15s,计算时间为2.5s.该结果保证了高精度绝对重力仪研制中对测量速度和计算精度的要求.%Rebuilding the trace of a free-fall body in the vacuum is one of the key steps in finding gravitational acceleration from the sampled fringe signals. This paper proposed an algorithm for rebuilding the trace during the independent process of developing small Laser Interference Absolute Gravimeter. The basic principles are: ① Computing the time of the points before and after zero-crossing of a completely sampled fringe signal, which is generated by a freely falling body, and getting the time coordinates of zero-crossing points; ② Dividing these time coordinates to get the Time-Displacement Coordinates in the body trace using the same displacement interval. In the experiment, we found that it needs 2.5 s to complete one calculation, the average timing accuracy is ±0.01 ns, the induced error is 5. 2×10-12 m/s2, and one complete measurement time is 15 s. The results satisfy the demand of the measurement speed and the accuracy in developing the high precision laser interference absolute gravimeter.

We present a dye-doped liquid crystal laser using a photonic crystal cavity. An applied electric field to the liquid crystal provides wavelength tunability. The photonic crystal enhances resonant interaction with the gain medium....

Full Text Available Crystal dislocations were invisible until the mid-20th century although their presence had been inferred; the atomic and molecular scale dimensions had prevented earlier discovery. Now they are normally known to be just about everywhere, for example, in the softest molecularly-bonded crystals as well as within the hardest covalently-bonded diamonds. The advent of advanced techniques of atomic-scale probing has facilitated modern observations of dislocations in every crystal structure-type, particularly by X-ray diffraction topography and transmission electron microscopy. The present Special Issue provides a flavor of their ubiquitous presences, their characterizations and, especially, their influence on mechanical and electrical properties.

Using microorganisms to mediate crystallisation of metals and minerals in open-culture bioreactors has potential to recover recyclable materials from dilute aqueous streams, but also to prevent their emission to the environment. Although this potential is already exploited in practice to some

Thermochromic liquid crystals, or TLCs, are a type of liquid crystals that react to changes in temperature by changing color. The Hallcrest/NASA collaboration involved development of a new way to visualize boundary layer transition in flight and in wind tunnel testing of aircraft wing and body surfaces. TLCs offered a new and potentially better method of visualizing the boundary layer transition in flight. Hallcrest provided a liquid crystal formulation technique that afforded great control over the sensitivity of the liquid crystals to varying conditions. Method is of great use to industry, government and universities for aerodynamic and hydrodynamic testing. Company's principal line is temperature indicating devices for industrial use, such as non-destructive testing and flaw detection in electric/electronic systems, medical application, such as diagnostic systems, for retail sale, such as room, refrigerator, baby bath and aquarium thermometers, and for advertising and promotion specials. Additionally, Hallcrest manufactures TLC mixtures for cosmetic applications, and liquid crystal battery tester for Duracell batteries.

The effects of crystal packing on protein loop structures are examined by (1) a comparison of loops in proteins that have been crystallized in alternate packing arrangements, and (2) theoretical prediction of loops both with and without the inclusion of the crystal environment. Results show that in a minority of cases, loop geometries are dependent on crystal packing effects. Explicit representation of the crystal environment in a loop prediction algorithm can be used to model these effects and to reconstruct the structures, and relative energies, of a loop in alternative packing environments. By comparing prediction results with and without the inclusion of the crystal environment, the loop prediction algorithm can further be used to identify cases in which a crystal structure does not represent the most stable state of a loop in solution. We anticipate that this capability has implications for structural biology.

The majority of the contributions in this topically edited book stems from the priority program SPP 1113 ""Photonische Kristalle"" run by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), resulting in a survey of the current state of photonic crystal research in Germany. The first part of the book describes methods for the theoretical analysis of their optical properties as well as the results. The main part is dedicated to the fabrication, characterization and modeling of two- and three-dimensional photonic crystals, while the final section presents a wide spectrum of applications: gas sensors, micr

Here, I argue that computational thinking and techniques are so central to the quest of understanding life that today all biology is computational biology. Computational biology brings order into our understanding of life, it makes biological concepts rigorous and testable, and it provides a reference map that holds together individual insights. The next modern synthesis in biology will be driven by mathematical, statistical, and computational methods being absorbed into mainstream biological training, turning biology into a quantitative science.

Here, I argue that computational thinking and techniques are so central to the quest of understanding life that today all biology is computational biology. Computational biology brings order into our understanding of life, it makes biological concepts rigorous and testable, and it provides a reference map that holds together individual insights. The next modern synthesis in biology will be driven by mathematical, statistical, and computational methods being absorbed into mainstream biological training, turning biology into a quantitative science. PMID:28278152

Optofluidic biolasers are recently being considered in bioanalytical applications due to their advantages over the conventional biosensing methods Exploiting a photonic crystal slab with selectively dye-infiltrated air holes, we propose a new optofluidic heterostructure biolaser, with a power conversion efficiency of 25% and the spectral linewidth of 0.24 nm. Simulations show that in addition to these satisfactory lasing characteristics, the proposed lab-on-a-chip biolaser is highly sensitive to the minute biological changes that may occur in its cavity and can detect a single virus with a radius as small as 13 nm.

生物磷灰石是动物和人体骨骼及牙釉质的主要无机矿物成分,磷灰石矿物晶体的组成和结构影响了骨及牙釉质的机械强度和生理功能。羟基磷灰石空间群的确定一直存在争议,其中羟基存在两种不同排列方式,使得其具有六方和单斜两种晶相。另外,磷灰石晶体结构中的类质同象替换,影响了其结构、物理和化学特性。本文综述了计算机模拟方法在原子及分子水平上对磷灰石晶体的空间群确定、磷灰石替代机制、小分子及生物大分子相互作用的研究,对磷灰石晶体化学、界面化学及开发生物材料的深入研究具有一定的科学意义和较强的应用价值。%Biological apatite is the main inorganic mineral component of animal and human bone and tooth enamel,moreover apatite mineral composition and structure affect on the bone and tooth enamel mechanical strength and physiological behavior.The structure of hydroxyapatite（HAP） has proved more difficult to resolve,two different hydroxyl arrangements may occur in HAP resulting in hexagonal and monoclinic structures.Extensive isomorphic substitutions may greatly affect the properties of this mineral.In the paper,computational methods are well placed to calculate at the atomic level the geometry and relative energies of the various possible hydroxy groups in apatite,and they have been employed to study the uptake and distribution of small molecule or biomacromolecule in the hydroxyapatite.Application of computer simulation at the atomic level to investigate apatites,especially HAP,is anticipated to provide a deeper understanding of crystal chemistry and interaction with biomacromolecules.These results offer a more comprehensive investigation of bio-apatite and perspective applications.

A repetitive crystal-like pattern is spontaneously formed upon the twisting of straight ribbons. The pattern is akin to a tessellation with isosceles triangles, and it can easily be demonstrated with ribbons cut from an overhead transparency. We give a general description of developable ribbons...

Some readers might not fully know what the difference is between crystallography, and the "new age" practice of dangling crystals around the body to capitalise on their healing energy. The latter is often considered to be superstition, while ironically, the former has actually resulted in real rationally-based healing of human diseases…

Biological and Medical Sensor Technologies presents contributions from top experts who explore the development and implementation of sensors for various applications used in medicine and biology. Edited by a pioneer in the area of advanced semiconductor materials, the book is divided into two sections. The first part covers sensors for biological applications. Topics include: Advanced sensing and communication in the biological world DNA-derivative architectures for long-wavelength bio-sensing Label-free silicon photonics Quartz crystal microbalance-based biosensors Lab-on-chip technologies fo

Optical biosensors are increasingly being considered for lab-on-a-chip applications due to their benefits such as small size, biocompatibility, passive behaviour and lack of the need for fluorescent labels. The light guiding mechanisms used by many of them results in poor overlap of the optical field with the target molecules, reducing the maximum sensitivity achievable. This review article presents a new platform for optical biosensors, namely slotted photonic crystals, which provide higher sensitivities due to their ability to confine, spatially and temporally, the optical mode peak within the analyte itself. Loss measurements showed values comparable to standard photonic crystals, confirming their ability to be used in real devices. A novel resonant coupler was designed, simulated, and experimentally tested, and was found to perform better than other solutions within the literature. Combining with cavities, microfluidics and biological functionalization allowed proof-of-principle demonstrations of protein binding to be carried out. Higher sensitivities were observed in smaller structures than possible with most competing devices reported in the literature. This body of work presents slotted photonic crystals as a realistic platform for complete on-chip biosensing; addressing key design, performance and application issues, whilst also opening up exciting new ideas for future study. PMID:23503295

Full Text Available Optical biosensors are increasingly being considered for lab-on-a-chip applications due to their benefits such as small size, biocompatibility, passive behaviour and lack of the need for fluorescent labels. The light guiding mechanisms used by many of them results in poor overlap of the optical field with the target molecules, reducing the maximum sensitivity achievable. This review article presents a new platform for optical biosensors, namely slotted photonic crystals, which provide higher sensitivities due to their ability to confine, spatially and temporally, the optical mode peak within the analyte itself. Loss measurements showed values comparable to standard photonic crystals, confirming their ability to be used in real devices. A novel resonant coupler was designed, simulated, and experimentally tested, and was found to perform better than other solutions within the literature. Combining with cavities, microfluidics and biological functionalization allowed proof-of-principle demonstrations of protein binding to be carried out. Higher sensitivities were observed in smaller structures than possible with most competing devices reported in the literature. This body of work presents slotted photonic crystals as a realistic platform for complete on-chip biosensing; addressing key design, performance and application issues, whilst also opening up exciting new ideas for future study.

Crystal growth has been widely studied for many years, and, since the pioneering work of Burton, Cabrera and Frank, spirals and target patterns on the crystal surface have been understood as forms of tangential crystal growth mediated by defects and by two-dimensional nucleation. Similar spirals and target patterns are ubiquitous in physical systems describable as excitable media. Here, we demonstrate that this is not merely a superficial resemblance, that the physics of crystal growth can be set within the framework of an excitable medium, and that appreciating this correspondence may prove useful to both fields. Apart from solid crystals, we discuss how our model applies to the biomaterial nacre, formed by layer growth of a biological liquid crystal.

Optical biosensors are increasingly being considered for lab-on-a-chip applications due to their benefits such as small size, biocompatibility, passive behaviour and lack of the need for fluorescent labels. The light guiding mechanisms used by many of them result in poor overlap of the optical field with the target molecules, reducing the maximum sensitivity achievable. This thesis presents a new platform for optical biosensors, namely slotted photonic crystals, which engender higher sensitivities due to their ability to confine, spatially and temporally, the peak of optical mode within the analyte itself. Loss measurements showed values comparable to standard photonic crystals, confirming their ability to be used in real devices. A novel resonant coupler was designed, simulated, and experimentally tested, and was found to perform better than other solutions within the literature. Combining with cavities, microfluidics and biological functionalization allowed proof-of-principle demonstrations of protein binding to be carried out. High sensitivities were observed in smaller structures than most competing devices in the literature. Initial tests with cellular material for real applications was also performed, and shown to be of promise. In addition, groundwork to make an integrated device that includes the spectrometer function was also carried out showing that slotted photonic crystals themselves can be used for on-chip wavelength specific filtering and spectroscopy, whilst gas-free microvalves for automation were also developed. This body of work presents slotted photonic crystals as a realistic platform for complete on-chip biosensing; addressing key design, performance and application issues, whilst also opening up exciting new ideas for future study.

DNA assemblies have been used to organize inorganic nanoparticles into 3D arrays, with emergent properties arising as a result of nanoparticle spacing and geometry. We report here the use of engineered protein crystals as an alternative approach to biologically mediated assembly of inorganic nanoparticles. The protein crystal's 13 nm diameter pores result in an 80% solvent content and display hexahistidine sequences on their interior. The hexahistidine sequence captures Au25(glutathione)~17 (nitrilotriacetic acid)~1 nanoclusters throughout a chemically crosslinked crystal via the coordination of Ni(ii) to both the cluster and the protein. Nanoparticle loading was validated by confocal microscopy and elemental analysis. The nanoparticles may be released from the crystal by exposure to EDTA, which chelates the Ni(ii) and breaks the specific protein/nanoparticle interaction. The integrity of the protein crystals after crosslinking and nanoparticle capture was confirmed by single crystal X-ray crystallography.DNA assemblies have been used to organize inorganic nanoparticles into 3D arrays, with emergent properties arising as a result of nanoparticle spacing and geometry. We report here the use of engineered protein crystals as an alternative approach to biologically mediated assembly of inorganic nanoparticles. The protein crystal's 13 nm diameter pores result in an 80% solvent content and display hexahistidine sequences on their interior. The hexahistidine sequence captures Au25(glutathione)~17 (nitrilotriacetic acid)~1 nanoclusters throughout a chemically crosslinked crystal via the coordination of Ni(ii) to both the cluster and the protein. Nanoparticle loading was validated by confocal microscopy and elemental analysis. The nanoparticles may be released from the crystal by exposure to EDTA, which chelates the Ni(ii) and breaks the specific protein/nanoparticle interaction. The integrity of the protein crystals after crosslinking and nanoparticle capture was

In order to search for novel agrochemicals with high activity and low toxicity,a series of phosphonate derivatives containing 1,2,3-triazole and thiazole rings were designed and synthesized using 2-chloro-5-(chloromethyl)thiazole as the starting material.Their structures were confirmed by IR,1H NMR,31P NMR,EI-MS or ESI-MS and elemental analyses.The crystal structure of 7a was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction.Prelimihary bioassays indicated that most of the target compounds did not display insecticidal activities,but a fraction of them possessed herbicidal and fungicidal activities to some extent.

A new Cd(II) complex with the ligand 4′-chloro-2,2′6′,2′′-terpyridine (Cltpy), [Cd(Cltpy)(I)2], has been synthesized and characterized by CHN elemental analysis, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and IR spectroscopy and structurally analyzed by X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The single-crystal X-ray analyses show that the coordination number in complex is five with three terpyridine (Cltpy) N-donor atoms and two iodine atoms. The antibacterial activities of Cltpy and its Cd(II) complex are tested against different bacteria. PMID:21738495

A series of ZrO(2) doped MgO-CaO-SiO(2)-P(2)O(5)-CaF(2) bioactive glass-ceramics were obtained by sintering method. The crystallization behavior, phase composition, morphology and structure of glass-ceramics were characterized. The bending strength, elastic modulus, fracture toughness, micro-hardness and thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) of glass-ceramics were investigated. The in vitro bioactivity and cytotoxicity tests were used to evaluate the bioactivity and biocompatibility of glass-ceramics. The sedimentation mechanism and growth process of apatites on sample surface were discussed. The results showed that the mainly crystalline phases of glass-ceramics were Ca(5)(PO4)3F (fluorapatite) and β-CaSiO(3). (β-wollastonite). m-ZrO(2) (monoclinic zirconia) declined the crystallization temperatures of glasses. t-ZrO(2) (tetragonal zirconia) increased the crystallization temperature of Ca(5)(PO4)(3)F and declined the crystallization temperature of β-CaSiO(3). t-ZrO(2) greatly increased the fracture toughness, bending strength and micro-hardness of glass-ceramics. The nanometer apatites were induced on the surface of glass-ceramic after soaking 28 days in SBF (simulated body fluid), indicating the glass-ceramic has good bioactivity. The in vitro cytotoxicity test demonstrated the glass-ceramic has no toxicity to cell.

Full Text Available X-ray crystallography is the predominant method for obtaining atomic-scale information about biological macromolecules. Despite the success of the technique, obtaining well diffracting crystals still critically limits going from protein to structure. In practice, the crystallization process proceeds through knowledge-informed empiricism. Better physico-chemical understanding remains elusive because of the large number of variables involved, hence little guidance is available to systematically identify solution conditions that promote crystallization. To help determine relationships between macromolecular properties and their crystallization propensity, we have trained statistical models on samples for 182 proteins supplied by the Northeast Structural Genomics consortium. Gaussian processes, which capture trends beyond the reach of linear statistical models, distinguish between two main physico-chemical mechanisms driving crystallization. One is characterized by low levels of side chain entropy and has been extensively reported in the literature. The other identifies specific electrostatic interactions not previously described in the crystallization context. Because evidence for two distinct mechanisms can be gleaned both from crystal contacts and from solution conditions leading to successful crystallization, the model offers future avenues for optimizing crystallization screens based on partial structural information. The availability of crystallization data coupled with structural outcomes analyzed through state-of-the-art statistical models may thus guide macromolecular crystallization toward a more rational basis.

Biological weapons are weapons of mass destruction that use pathogens (bacteria, viruses) or the toxins produced by them to target living organisms or to contaminate non-living substances. In the past, biological warfare has been repeatedly used. Anthrax, plague and smallpox are regarded as the most dangerous biological weapons by various institutions. Nowadays it seems quite unlikely that biological warfare will be employed in any military campaigns. However, the possibility remains that biological weapons may be used in acts of bioterrorism. In addition all diseases caused by biological weapons may also occur naturally or as a result of a laboratory accident. Risk assessment with regard to biological danger often proves to be difficult. In this context, an early identification of a potentially dangerous situation through experts is essential to limit the degree of damage. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart * New York.

The book is a textbook (with many exercises) giving an in-depth account of the practical use of mathematical modelling in the biomedical sciences. The mathematical level required is generally not high and the emphasis is on what is required to solve the real biological problem. The subject matter is drawn, e.g. from population biology, reaction kinetics, biological oscillators and switches, Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction, reaction-diffusion theory, biological wave phenomena, central pattern generators, neural models, spread of epidemics, mechanochemical theory of biological pattern formation and importance in evolution. Most of the models are based on real biological problems and the predictions and explanations offered as a direct result of mathematical analysis of the models are important aspects of the book. The aim is to provide a thorough training in practical mathematical biology and to show how exciting and novel mathematical challenges arise from a genuine interdisciplinary involvement with the biosci...

Full Text Available A repetitive crystal-like pattern is spontaneously formed upon the twisting of straight ribbons. The pattern is akin to a tessellation with isosceles triangles, and it can easily be demonstrated with ribbons cut from an overhead transparency. We give a general description of developable ribbons using a ruled procedure where ribbons are uniquely described by two generating functions. This construction defines a differentiable frame, the ribbon frame, which does not have singular points, whereby we avoid the shortcomings of the Frenet-Serret frame. The observed spontaneous pattern is modeled using planar triangles and cylindrical arcs, and the ribbon structure is shown to arise from a maximization of the end-to-end length of the ribbon, i.e. from an optimal use of ribbon length. The phenomenon is discussed in the perspectives of incompatible intrinsic geometries and of the emergence of long-range order.

An improved crystallization process is disclosed for separating a crystallizable material and an excluded material which is at least partially excluded from the solid phase of the crystallizable material obtained upon freezing a liquid phase of the materials. The solid phase is more dense than the liquid phase, and it is separated therefrom by relative movement with the formation of a packed bed of solid phase. The packed bed is continuously formed adjacent its lower end and passed from the liquid phase into a countercurrent flow of backwash liquid. The packed bed extends through the level of the backwash liquid to provide a drained bed of solid phase adjacent its upper end which is melted by a condensing vapor.

Crystal soaking is widely performed in biological crystallography. This paper reports time-resolved X-ray crystallographic and microtomographic analyses of tetragonal crystals of chicken egg-white lysozyme soaked in mother liquor containing potassium hexachloroplatinate. The microtomographic analysis showed that X-ray attenuation spread from the superficial layer of the crystal and then to the crystal core. The crystallographic analyses indicated that platinum sites can be classified into two groups from the temporal development of the electron densities. A soaking process consisting of binding-rate-driven and equilibrium-driven layers is proposed to describe these results. This study suggests that the composition of chemical and structural species resulting from the soaking process varies depending on the position in the crystal.

Composite hybrid gold crystals are of profound interest in various research areas ranging from materials science to biology. Their importance is due to their unique properties and potential implementation, for example in sensing or in bio-nanomedicine. Here we report on the formation of hybrid organic-metal composites via the incorporation of selected amino acids histidine, aspartic acid, serine, glutamine, alanine, cysteine, and selenocystine into the crystal lattice of single crystals of gold. We used electron microscopy, chemical analysis and high-resolution synchrotron powder X ray diffraction to examine these composites. Crystal shape, as well as atomic concentrations of occluded amino acids and their impact on the crystal structure of gold, were determined. Concentration of the incorporated amino acid was highest for cysteine, followed by serine and aspartic acid. Our results indicate that the incorporation process probably occurs through a complex interaction of their individual functional groups with ...

Non-invasive optical manipulation of particles has emerged as a powerful and versatile tool for biological study and nanotechnology. In particular, trapping and rotation of cells, cell nuclei and sub-micron particles enables unique functionality for various applications such as tissue engineering, cancer research and nanofabrication. We propose and demonstrate a purely optical approach to rotate and align particles using the interaction of polarized light with photonic crystal nanostructures to generate enhanced trapping force. With a weakly focused laser beam we observed efficient trapping and transportation of polystyrene beads with sizes ranging from 10 um down to 190 nm as well as cancer cell nuclei. In addition, we demonstrated alignment of non-spherical particles using a 1-D photonic crystal structure. Bacterial cells were trapped, rotated and aligned with optical intensity as low as 17 uW/um^2. Finite-difference time domain (FDTD) simulations of the optical near-field and far-field above the photonic c...

With the application of intense X-ray beams from third generation synchrotron sources, damage to cryocooled macromolecular crystals is being observed more commonly . In order to fully utilize synchrotron facilities now available for studying biologicalcrystals, it is essential to understand the processes involved in radiation damage and beam heating so that, if possible, action can be taken to slow the rate of damage. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) has been applied to model the heating effects of X-rays on cryocooled protein crystals, and to compare the relative cooling efficiencies of nitrogen and helium.

A widespread and influential characterization of synthetic biology emphasizes that synthetic biology is the application of engineering principles to living systems. Furthermore, there is a strong tendency to express the engineering approach to organisms in terms of what seems to be an ontological claim: organisms are machines. In the paper I investigate the ontological and heuristic significance of the machine analogy in synthetic biology. I argue that the use of the machine analogy and the aim of producing rationally designed organisms does not necessarily imply a commitment to mechanical biology. The ideal of applying engineering principles to biology is best understood as expressing recognition of the machine-unlikeness of natural organisms and the limits of human cognition. The paper suggests an interpretation of the identification of organisms with machines in synthetic biology according to which it expresses a strategy for representing, understanding, and constructing living systems that are more machine-like than natural organisms.

Computation via biological devices has been the subject of close scrutiny since von Neumann’s early work some 60 years ago. In spite of the many relevant works in this field, the notion of programming biological devices seems to be, at best, ill-defined. While many devices are claimed or proved t...

Binary crystals are crystals composed of two types of particles having different properties like size, mass density, charge etc. In this thesis several new approaches to make binary crystals of colloidal particles that differ in size, material and charge are reported We found a variety of crystal st

A mixed organic crystal according to one embodiment includes a single mixed crystal having two compounds with different bandgap energies, the organic crystal having a physical property of exhibiting a signal response signature for neutrons from a radioactive source, wherein the signal response signature does not include a significantly-delayed luminescence characteristic of neutrons interacting with the organic crystal relative to a luminescence characteristic of gamma rays interacting with the organic crystal. According to one embodiment, an organic crystal includes bibenzyl and stilbene or a stilbene derivative, the organic crystal having a physical property of exhibiting a signal response signature for neutrons from a radioactive source.

Photonic crystals are a type of novel materials with ordered structure, nanopores/channels and optical band gap. They have hence important applications in physics, chemistry, biological science and engineering fields. This review summarizes the recent advancement of photonic crystals in analytical chemistry applications, with focus on sensing and separating fields happening in the nearest 5 years.

Preparation of cryocooled protein crystal is provided by use of helium pressurizing and cryocooling to obtain cryocooled protein crystal allowing collection of high resolution data and by heavier noble gas (krypton or xenon) binding followed by helium pressurizing and cryocooling to obtain cryocooled protein crystal for collection of high resolution data and SAD phasing simultaneously. The helium pressurizing is carried out on crystal coated to prevent dehydration or on crystal grown in aqueous solution in a capillary.

The ocean is arguably the largest habitat on the planet, and it houses an astounding array of life, from microbes to whales. As a testament to this diversity and its importance, the discipline of biological oceanography spans studies of all levels of biological organization, from that of single genes, to organisms, to their population dynamics. Biological oceanography also includes studies on how organisms interact with, and contribute to, essential global processes. Students of biological oceanography are often as comfortable looking at satellite images as they are electron micrographs. This diversity of perspective begins the textbook Biological Oceanography, with cover graphics including a Coastal Zone Color Scanner image representing chlorophyll concentration, an electron micrograph of a dinoflagellate, and a photograph of a copepod. These images instantly capture the reader's attention and illustrate some of the different scales on which budding oceanographers are required to think. Having taught a core graduate course in biological oceanography for many years, Charlie Miller has used his lecture notes as the genesis for this book. The text covers the subject of biological oceanography in a manner that is targeted to introductory graduate students, but it would also be appropriate for advanced undergraduates.

Full Text Available A critical assessment of the recent developmentsof molecular biology is presented.The thesis that they do not lead to a conceptualunderstanding of life and biological systems is defended.Maturana and Varela's concept of autopoiesis is briefly sketchedand its logical circularity avoided by postulatingthe existence of underlying living processes,entailing amplification from the microscopic to the macroscopic scale,with increasing complexity in the passage from one scale to the other.Following such a line of thought, the currently accepted model of condensed matter, which is based on electrostatics and short-ranged forces,is criticized. It is suggested that the correct interpretationof quantum dispersion forces (van der Waals, hydrogen bonding, and so onas quantum coherence effects hints at the necessity of includinglong-ranged forces (or mechanisms for them incondensed matter theories of biological processes.Some quantum effects in biology are reviewedand quantum mechanics is acknowledged as conceptually important to biology since withoutit most (if not all of the biological structuresand signalling processes would not even exist. Moreover, it is suggested that long-rangequantum coherent dynamics, including electron polarization,may be invoked to explain signal amplificationprocess in biological systems in general.

The morphologies of biological materials, from body shapes to membranes within cells, are typically curvaceous and flexible, in contrast to the angular, facetted shapes of inorganic matter. An alternative dichotomy has it that biomolecules typically assemble into aperiodic structures in vivo, in contrast to inorganic crystals. This paper explores the evolution of our understanding of structures across the spectrum of materials, from living to inanimate, driven by those naive beliefs, with particular focus on the development of crystallography in materials science and biology. The idea that there is a clear distinction between these two classes of matter has waxed and waned in popularity through past centuries. Our current understanding, driven largely by detailed exploration of biomolecular structures at the sub-cellular level initiated by Bernal and Astbury in the 1930s, and more recent explorations of sterile soft matter, makes it clear that this is a false dichotomy. For example, liquid crystals and other soft materials are common to both living and inanimate materials. The older picture of disjoint universes of forms is better understood as a continuum of forms, with significant overlap and common features unifying biological and inorganic matter. In addition to the philosophical relevance of this perspective, there are important ramifications for science. For example, the debates surrounding extra-terrestrial life, the oldest terrestrial fossils and consequent dating of the emergence of life on the Earth rests to some degree on prejudices inferred from the supposed dichotomy between life-forms and the rest.

Solitons are pulses that propagate without spreading due to a balance between nonlinearity and dispersion (or diffraction), and are universal features of systems exhibiting these effects. Solitons play an important role in plasma physics, fluid dynamics, atomic physics, biology, and optics. In the context of integrated photonics, bright dissipative cavity solitons in Kerr-nonlinear resonators are envisioned to play an important role in next-generation communication, computation, and measurement systems. Here we report the discovery of soliton crystals in Kerr resonators-collectively ordered ensembles of co-propagating solitons with discrete allowed temporal separations. Through analysis of optical spectra, we identify a complicated but discrete space of interacting soliton configurations, including crystals exhibiting vacancies (Schottky defects), shifted pulses (Frenkel defects), and superstructure. Time-domain characterization of the output-coupled soliton pulse train directly confirms our inference of the ...

Mathematics, Science and Biology teachers code switch when they teach. ... (by constantly translating back and forth), and argue for a 'separation approach' ..... for the classroom, only 3 students did not give an answer to this open-ended.

In this work, we explore the influence of different solvents and ions on the crystallization behavior of an all-AT dodecamer d(AATAAATTTATT)2 In all cases, the oligonucleotides are found as continuous columns of stacked duplexes. The spatial organization of such columns is variable; consequently we have obtained seven different crystal forms. The duplexes can be made to crystallize in either parallel or crossed columns. Such versatility in the formation of a variety of crystal forms is characteristic for this sequence. It had not been previously reported for any other sequence. In all cases, the oligonucleotide duplexes have been found to crystallize in the B form. The crystallization conditions determine the organization of the crystal, although no clear local interactions have been detected. Mg(2+) and Ni(2+) can be used in order to obtain compact crossed structures. DNA-DNA interactions in the crystals of our all-AT duplexes present crossovers which are different from those previously reported for mixed sequence oligonucleotides. Our results demonstrate that changes in the ionic atmosphere and the crystallization solvent have a strong influence on the DNA-DNA interactions. Similar ionic changes will certainly influence the biological activity of DNA. Modulation of the crystal structure by ions should also be explored in DNA crystal engineering. Liquid crystals with a peculiar macroscopic shape have also been observed.

We report a fundamentally new approach to enhance fluorescence in which surface adsorbed fluorophore-tagged biomolecules are excited on a photonic crystal surface that functions as a narrow bandwidth and tunable mirror of an external cavity laser. This scheme leads to ∼10× increase in the electromagnetic enhancement factor compared to ordinary photonic crystal enhanced fluorescence. In our experiments, the cavity automatically tunes its lasing wavelength to the resonance wavelength of the photonic crystal, ensuring optimal on-resonance coupling even in the presence of variable device parameters and variations in the density of surface-adsorbed capture molecules. We achieve ∼10(5) × improvement in the limit of detection of a fluorophore-tagged protein compared to its detection on an unpatterned glass substrate. The enhanced fluorescence signal and easy optical alignment make cavity-coupled photonic crystals a viable approach for further reducing detection limits of optically-excited light emitters that are used in biological assays.

In glass processing situations involving glass crystallization, various crystalline forms nucleate, grow, and dissolve, typically in a nonuniform temperature field of molten glass subjected to convection. Nuclear waste glasses are remarkable examples of multicomponent vitrified mixtures involving partial crystallization. In the glass melter, crystals form and dissolve during batch-to-glass conversion, melter processing, and product cooling. Crystals often agglomerate and sink, and they may settle at the melter bottom. Within the body of cooling glass, multiple phases crystallize in a non-uniform time-dependent temperature field. Self-organizing periodic distribution (the Liesegnang effect) is common. Various crystallization phenomena that occur in glass making are reviewed.

Active soft matter is a young, growing field, with potential applications to a wide variety of systems. This Theme Issue explores this emerging new field by highlighting active liquid crystals. The collected contributions bridge theory to experiment, mathematical theories of passive and active nematics, spontaneous flows to defect dynamics, microscopic to continuum levels of description, spontaneous activity to biological activation. While the perspectives offered here only span a small part of this rapidly evolving field, we trust that they might provide the interested reader with a taste for this new class of non-equilibrium systems and their rich behaviour.

A biological preconcentrator comprises a stimulus-responsive active film on a stimulus-producing microfabricated platform. The active film can comprise a thermally switchable polymer film that can be used to selectively absorb and desorb proteins from a protein mixture. The biological microfabricated platform can comprise a thin membrane suspended on a substrate with an integral resistive heater and/or thermoelectric cooler for thermal switching of the active polymer film disposed on the membrane. The active polymer film can comprise hydrogel-like polymers, such as poly(ethylene oxide) or poly(n-isopropylacrylamide), that are tethered to the membrane. The biological preconcentrator can be fabricated with semiconductor materials and technologies.

Within the framework of global biogeochemical cycles and ocean productivity, there are two areas that will be of particular interest to biological oceanography in the 1990s. The first is the mapping in space time of the biomass and productivity of phytoplankton in the world ocean. The second area is the coupling of biological and physical processes as it affects the distribution and growth rate of phytoplankton biomass. Certainly other areas will be of interest to biological oceanographers, but these two areas are amenable to observations from satellites. Temporal and spatial variability is a regular feature of marine ecosystems. The temporal and spatial variability of phytoplankton biomass and productivity which is ubiquitous at all time and space scales in the ocean must be characterized. Remote sensing from satellites addresses these problems with global observations of mesocale (2 to 20 days, 10 to 200 km) features over a long period of time.

The invention contemplates a method for recognition of proteins and other biological molecules by imaging morphology, size and distribution of crystalline and amorphous dry residues in droplets (further referred to as "crystallization pattern") containing predetermined amount of certain crystal-forming organic compounds (reporters) to which protein to be analyzed is added. It has been shown that changes in the crystallization patterns of a number of amino-acids can be used as a "signature" of a protein added. It was also found that both the character of changer in the crystallization patter and the fact of such changes can be used as recognition elements in analysis of protein molecules.

Crystallization of biological macromolecules is governed by weak interaction forces, attractive and repulsive. Knowledge of solution properties, via second virial coefficient measurements, makes it possible to select physico-chemical parameters that govern and control phase diagrams and thus to grow crystals for specific applications (bio-crystallography or pharmaceutical processes). We highlight here with urate oxidase a salting-in effect that increases its solubility and the depletion effect of amphiphilic polymer, at a polymer concentration above its cmc, in order to grow diffracting crystals of urate oxidase. These two effects were used to grow crystals for high pressure crystallography and in a purification process.

The notion of structure is central to the subject of chemistry. This review traces the development of the idea of crystal structure since the time when a crystal structure could be determined from a three-dimensional diffraction pattern and assesses the feasibility of computationally predicting an unknown crystal structure of a given molecule. Crystal structure prediction is of considerable fundamental and applied importance, and its successful execution is by no means a solved problem. The ease of crystal structure determination today has resulted in the availability of large numbers of crystal structures of higher-energy polymorphs and pseudopolymorphs. These structural libraries lead to the concept of a crystal structure landscape. A crystal structure of a compound may accordingly be taken as a data point in such a landscape.

Many nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals have been identified as potential candidates in optical and electro-optical devices. Use of NLO organic crystals is expected in photonic applications. Hence organic nonlinear optical materials have been intensely investigated due to their potentially high nonlinearities, and rapid response in electro-optic effect compared to inorganic NLO materials. There are many methods to grow organic crystals such as vapor growth method, melt growth method and solution growth method. Out of these methods, solution growth method is useful in providing constraint free crystal. Single crystals of Dopamine have been grown by evaporating the solvents from aqueous solution. Crystals obtained were of the size of orders of mm. The crystal structure of dopamine was determined using XRD technique. Images of crystals were obtained using FEG SEM Quanta Series under high vacuum and low KV.

Many nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals have been identified as potential candidates in optical and electro-optical devices. Use of NLO organic crystals is expected in photonic applications. Hence organic nonlinear optical materials have been intensely investigated due to their potentially high nonlinearities, and rapid response in electro-optic effect compared to inorganic NLO materials. There are many methods to grow organic crystals such as vapor growth method, melt growth method and solution growth method. Out of these methods, solution growth method is useful in providing constraint free crystal. Single crystals of Dopamine have been grown by evaporating the solvents from aqueous solution. Crystals obtained were of the size of orders of mm. The crystal structure of dopamine was determined using XRD technique. Images of crystals were obtained using FEG SEM Quanta Series under high vacuum and low KV.

Full Text Available A pyridylpyrazole bearing a hydroxyethyl substituent group has been synthesized by condensation of (Z-4-hydroxy-4-(pyridin-2-ylbut-3-en-2-one with 2-hydroxyethylhydrazine. The compound was well characterized and its structure confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Density functional calculations have been performed using DFT method with 6-31G* basis set. The HOMO-LUMO energy gap, binding energies and electron deformation densities are calculated at the DFT (BLYP, PW91, PWC level. The electrophilic f(− and nucleophilic f(+ Fukui functions and also the electrophilic and nucleophilic Parr functions are well adapted to find the electrophile and nucleophile centers in the molecule. The title compound has been tested for its DPPH radical scavenging activity which is involved in aging processes, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and wound healing activity. Compound is also found with a significant antioxidant activity, probably due to the ability to donate a hydrogen atom to the DPPH radical.

Members of the mechanical assembly team insert the last few crystals into the first module of ALICE's photon spectrometer. These crystals are made from lead-tungstate, a crystal as clear as glass but with nearly four times the density. When a high-energy particle passes through one of these crystals it will scintillate, emitting a flash of light allowing the energy of photons, electrons and positrons to be measured.

Among the various crystallization techniques, crystallization in gels has found wide applications in the fields of biomineralization and macromolecular crystallization in addition to crystallizing materials having nonlinear optical, ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, and other properties. Furthermore, by using this method it is possible to grow single crystals with very high perfection that are difficult to grow by other techniques. The gel method of crystallization provides an ideal technique to study crystal deposition diseases, which could lead to better understanding of their etiology. This chapter focuses on crystallization in gels of compounds that are responsible for crystal deposition diseases. The introduction is followed by a description of the various gels used, the mechanism of gelling, and the fascinating phenomenon of Liesegang ring formation, along with various gel growth techniques. The importance and scope of study on crystal deposition diseases and the need for crystal growth experiments using gel media are stressed. The various crystal deposition diseases, viz. (1) urolithiasis, (2) gout or arthritis, (3) cholelithiasis and atherosclerosis, and (4) pancreatitis and details regarding the constituents of the crystal deposits responsible for the pathological mineralization are discussed. Brief accounts of the theories of the formation of urinary stones and gallstones and the role of trace elements in urinary stone formation are also given. The crystallization in gels of (1) the urinary stone constituents, viz. calcium oxalate, calcium phosphates, uric acid, cystine, etc., (2) the constituents of the gallstones, viz. cholesterol, calcium carbonate, etc., (3) the major constituent of the pancreatic calculi, viz., calcium carbonate, and (4) cholic acid, a steroidal hormone are presented. The effect of various organic and inorganic ions, trace elements, and extracts from cereals, herbs, and fruits on the crystallization of major urinary stone and gallstone

Information derived from X-ray crystal structures of biological molecules allows us to explain their functions in living organisms and to develop drugs to treat disease. This book describes the principles and practice of X-ray diffraction as a key technique at the forefront of new discoveries in biology and medicine.

The method of piezoelectric microgravimetry (nanogravimetry) using an electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) or nanobalance (EQCN) can be considered as a novel and much more sensitive version of electrogravimetry. The EQCN technique has become a widely used technique in several areas of electrochemistry, electroanalytical chemistry, bioelectrochemistry, etc. [1-10]. Obviously, mass changes occurring during adsorption, sorption, electrosorption, electrodeposition, or spontaneous deposition can be followed, which is very helpful for the elucidation of reaction mechanism via identification of the species accumulated on the surface. These investigations include metal and alloy deposition, underpotential deposition, electroplating, synthesis of conducting polymers by electropolymerization, adsorption of biologically active materials, and analytical determination of small ions and biomolecules. Of course, the opposite processes, i.e., spontaneous dissolution, electrodissolution, corrosion, can also be studied. Electrochemical oscillations, in which the formation and oxidation of chemisorbed molecular fragments play a determining role, have been studied, too. The majority of the investigations have been devoted to ion and solvent transport associated with the redox transformations of electrochemically active polymers. Similar studies have been carried out regarding polynuclear surface layers such as metal hexacyanometalates as well as inorganic and organic microcrystals of different compositions.

This is the final report on a NASA Grant. It concerns a description of work done, which includes: (1) Protein crystals cross-linked to form fibers; (2) Engineering of protein to favor crystallization; (3) Better knowledge-based potentials for protein-protein contacts; (4) Simulation of protein crystallization.

We analyze the bandgap structure of Liquid Crystal infiltrated Photonic Crystal Fibers depending on the parameters of the Liquid Crystals by means of finite element simulations. For a biased Liquid Crystal Photonic Crystal Fiber, we show how the tunability of the bandgap position depends...... on the Liquid Crystal parameters....

Obtaining protein crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction studies comprises the greatest challenge in the determination of protein crystal structures, especially for membrane proteins and protein complexes. Although high purity has been broadly accepted as one of the most significant requirements for protein crystallization, a recent study of the Escherichia coli proteome showed that many proteins have an inherent propensity to crystallize and do not require a highly homogeneous sample (Totir et al., 2012). As exemplified by RPE65 (Kiser, Golczak, Lodowski, Chance, & Palczewski, 2009), there also are cases of mammalian proteins crystallized from less purified samples. To test whether this phenomenon can be applied more broadly to the study of proteins from higher organisms, we investigated the protein crystallization profile of bovine rod outer segment (ROS) crude extracts. Interestingly, multiple protein crystals readily formed from such extracts, some of them diffracting to high resolution that allowed structural determination. A total of seven proteins were crystallized, one of which was a membrane protein. Successful crystallization of proteins from heterogeneous ROS extracts demonstrates that many mammalian proteins also have an intrinsic propensity to crystallize from complex biological mixtures. By providing an alternative approach to heterologous expression to achieve crystallization, this strategy could be useful for proteins and complexes that are difficult to purify or obtain by recombinant techniques.

Single-crystal electrochemistry and scanning tunneling microscopy directly in aqueous electrolyte solution (in situ STM) are established in physical electrochemistry but new in studies of adsorption and interfacial electrochemistry of biological macromolecules. These high-resolution techniques have...

The traveler attended the 1st International Conference on Biological Dosimetry in Madrid, Spain. This conference was organized to provide information to a general audience of biologists, physicists, radiotherapists, industrial hygiene personnel and individuals from related fields on the current ability of cytogenetic analysis to provide estimates of radiation dose in cases of occupational or environmental exposure. There is a growing interest in Spain in biological dosimetry because of the increased use of radiation sources for medical and occupational uses, and with this the anticipated and actual increase in numbers of overexposure. The traveler delivered the introductory lecture on Biological Dosimetry: Mechanistic Concepts'' that was intended to provide a framework by which the more applied lectures could be interpreted in a mechanistic way. A second component of the trip was to provide advice with regard to several recent cases of overexposure that had been or were being assessed by the Radiopathology and Radiotherapy Department of the Hospital General Gregorio Maranon'' in Madrid. The traveler had provided information on several of these, and had analyzed cells from some exposed or purportedly exposed individuals. The members of the biological dosimetry group were referred to individuals at REACTS at Oak Ridge Associated Universities for advice on follow-up treatment.

Descriptions and interpretations of the natural world are dominated by dichotomies such as organism vs. environment, nature vs. nurture, genetic vs. epigenetic, but in the last couple of decades strong dissatisfaction with those partitions has been repeatedly voiced and a number of alternative perspectives have been suggested, from perspectives such as Dawkins' extended phenotype, Turner's extended organism, Oyama's Developmental Systems Theory and Odling-Smee's niche construction theory. Last in time is the description of biological phenomena in terms of hybrids between an organism (scaffolded system) and a living or non-living scaffold, forming unit systems to study processes such as reproduction and development. As scaffold, eventually, we can define any resource used by the biological system, especially in development and reproduction, without incorporating it as happens in the case of resources fueling metabolism. Addressing biological systems as functionally scaffolded systems may help pointing to functional relationships that can impart temporal marking to the developmental process and thus explain its irreversibility; revisiting the boundary between development and metabolism and also regeneration phenomena, by suggesting a conceptual framework within which to investigate phenomena of regular hypermorphic regeneration such as characteristic of deer antlers; fixing a periodization of development in terms of the times at which a scaffolding relationship begins or is terminated; and promoting plant galls to legitimate study objects of developmental biology.

Presents information on the teaching of nutrition (including new information relating to many current O-level syllabi) and part 16 of a reading list for A- and S-level biology. Also includes a note on using earthworms as a source of material for teaching meiosis. (JN)

Outlines a variety of laboratory procedures, techniques, and materials including construction of a survey frame for field biology, a simple tidal system, isolation and applications of plant protoplasts, tropisms, teaching lung structure, and a key to statistical methods for biologists. (DS)

Full Text Available Synthesis and characterization of Mn(II, Ni(II, Cd(II and Pb(II mixed ligand complexes of 2-methylbenzimidazole with other ligands have been reported. The structure of the ligands and their complexes was investigated using elemental analysis, IR, UV–Vis, (1H, 13C NMR spectroscopy, molar conductivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements. In all the studies of complexes, the 2-methylbenzimidazole behaves as a neutral monodentate ligand which is coordinated with the metal ions through the N atom. While benzotriazole behaves as a neutral bidentate ligand which is coordinated with the Ni(II ion through the two N atoms. Moreover, the N-acetylglycine behaves as a bidentate ligand which is coordinated with the Mn(II, Ni(II and Pb(II ions through the N atom and the terminal carboxyl oxygen atom. The magnetic and spectral data indicate the tetrahedral geometry for Mn(II complex, irregular tetrahedral geometry for Pb(II complex and octahedral geometry for Ni(II complex. The X-ray single crystal diffraction method was used to confirm a centrosymmetric dinuclear Cd(II complex as each two metal ions are linked by a pair of thiocyanate N = S bridge. Two 2-methylbenzimidazole N-atom donors and one terminal thiocyanate N atom complete a highly distorted square pyramid geometry around the Cd atom. Besides, different cell types were used to determine the inhibitory effect of Mn(II, Ni(II, Cd(II and Pb(II complexes on cell growth using MTT assay. Cd(II complex showed cytotoxic effect on various types of cancer cell lines with different EC50 values.

We compare aspects of biological X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) studies of cations and anions, and report on some examples of anion binding in biological systems. Brown algae such as Laminaria digitata (oarweed) are effective accumulators of I from seawater, with tissue concentrations exceeding 50 mM, and the vanadate-containing enzyme haloperoxidase is implicated in halide accumulation. We have studied the chemical state of iodine and its biological role in Laminaria at the I K edge, and bromoperoxidase from Ascophyllum nodosum (knotted wrack) at the Br K edge. Mo is essential for many forms of life; W only for certain archaea, such as Archaeoglobus fulgidus and the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus, and some bacteria. The metals are bound and transported as their oxo-anions, molybdate and tungstate, which are similar in size. The transport protein WtpA from P. furiosus binds tungstate more strongly than molybdate, and is related in sequence to Archaeoglobus fulgidus ModA, of which a crystal structure is known. We have measured A. fulgidus ModA with tungstate at the W L{sub 3} (2p{sub 3/2}) edge, and compared the results with the refined crystal structure. XAS studies of anion binding are feasible even if only weak interactions are present, are biologically relevant, and give new insights in the spectroscopy.

We compare aspects of biological X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) studies of cations and anions, and report on some examples of anion binding in biological systems. Brown algae such as Laminaria digitata (oarweed) are effective accumulators of I from seawater, with tissue concentrations exceeding 50 mM, and the vanadate-containing enzyme haloperoxidase is implicated in halide accumulation. We have studied the chemical state of iodine and its biological role in Laminaria at the I K edge, and bromoperoxidase from Ascophyllum nodosum (knotted wrack) at the Br K edge. Mo is essential for many forms of life; W only for certain archaea, such as Archaeoglobus fulgidus and the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus, and some bacteria. The metals are bound and transported as their oxo-anions, molybdate and tungstate, which are similar in size. The transport protein WtpA from P. furiosus binds tungstate more strongly than molybdate, and is related in sequence to Archaeoglobus fulgidus ModA, of which a crystal structure is known. We have measured A. fulgidus ModA with tungstate at the W L3 (2p3/2) edge, and compared the results with the refined crystal structure. XAS studies of anion binding are feasible even if only weak interactions are present, are biologically relevant, and give new insights in the spectroscopy.

We developed a new protein crystallization method that incorporates paper. A small piece of paper, such as facial tissue or KimWipes, was added to a drop of protein solution in the traditional sitting drop vapor diffusion technique, and protein crystals grew by incorporating paper. By this method, we achieved the growth of protein crystals with reducing osmotic shock. Because the technique is very simple and the materials are easy to obtain, this method will come into wide use for protein crystallization. In the future, it could be applied to nanoliter-scale crystallization screening on a paper sheet such as in inkjet printing.

A practical hands-on course encompassing enzyme purification, biochemical characterization, and crystallization that completed the course work of 350 second-year bachelor students enrolled in molecular biology/biochemistry was given at the Universite Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg (France). The experimental part of the practical dealt entirely with…

We demonstrate a novel artificial optical material, the "photonic hyper-crystal", which combines the most interesting features of hyperbolic metamaterials and photonic crystals. Similar to hyperbolic metamaterials, photonic hyper-crystals exhibit broadband divergence in their photonic density of states due to the lack of usual diffraction limit on the photon wave vector. On the other hand, similar to photonic crystals, hyperbolic dispersion law of extraordinary photons is modulated by forbidden gaps near the boundaries of photonic Brillouin zones. Three dimensional self-assembly of photonic hyper-crystals has been achieved by application of external magnetic field to a cobalt nanoparticle-based ferrofluid. Unique spectral properties of photonic hyper-crystals lead to extreme sensitivity of the material to monolayer coatings of cobalt nanoparticles, which should find numerous applications in biological and chemical sensing.

We demonstrate a novel artificial optical material, a photonic hyper-crystal, which combines the most interesting features of hyperbolic metamaterials and photonic crystals. Similar to hyperbolic metamaterials, photonic hyper-crystals exhibit broadband divergence in their photonic density of states due to the lack of usual diffraction limit on the photon wave vector. On the other hand, similar to photonic crystals, hyperbolic dispersion law of extraordinary photons is modulated by forbidden gaps near the boundaries of photonic Brillouin zones. Three dimensional self-assembly of photonic hyper-crystals has been achieved by application of external magnetic field to a cobalt nanoparticle-based ferrofluid. Unique spectral properties of photonic hyper-crystals lead to extreme sensitivity of the material to monolayer coatings of cobalt nanoparticles, which should find numerous applications in biological and chemical sensing.

The reduced acceleration environment of an orbiting spacecraft has been proposed as an ideal environment for biologicalcrystal growth as the first sounding rocket flight in 1981 many crystallization experiments have flown with some showing improvement and others not. To further explore macromolecule crystal improvement in microgravity we have accumulated data from published reports and reports submitted by 63 missions including the Space Shuttle program, unmanned satellites, the Russian Space Station MIR and sounding rocket experiments. While it is not at this point in time a comprehensive record of all flight crystallization experimental results, there is however sufficient information for emerging trends to be identified. In this study the effects of the acceleration environment, the techniques of crystallization, sample molecular weight and the response of individual macromolecules to microgravity crystallization will be investigated.

Telmetered heart rate recordings have been ovtaine from 17 parachutists (6 during automatic jumps) 9 Catecholamine (adrenaline and noradrenaline) concentrations have been measured in urine and plasma of six of these subjects. No difference appears between heart rates recorded in the two jumps at egress and at parachute deployment. On the other hand, higher heart rate values are recorded during automatic jumps during descent and at ground impace. The urine catecholamine analysis after jump shows a statistically significant increase in adrenaline and noradrenaline concentration. It is suggested that simulation of the orthosympathetic system is due to two facts; muscular work performed during jumping and the emotional stress which it involves. The importance of these two causes varies with the jump circumstances.

A simple way of measuring g in the basic lab with a an Arduino micro-controller is discussed. Experimental results are obtained and compared with values provided by the National Observatory, Rio de Janeiro. Our relative error is 0.1 %.

A fast melting release method for the free-fallequivalence principle test using laser interferometry is discussed. The primary experiment result shows that the uncertainty of the differential release time could be controlled at the level of 1 ms by this release system, which satisfies the requirement of the expected experimental precision.

The problem of communication between observers in the vicinity of a black hole in a Schwarzschild metric is considered. The classic example of an infalling observer Alice and a static distant mother station (MS) is extended to include a second infalling observer Bob, who follows Alice in falling towards the event horizon. Kruskal coordinates are…

We investigate the collapse of non-spherical substructures, such as sheets and filaments, which are ubiquitous in molecular clouds. Such non-spherical substructures collapse homologously in their interiors but are influenced by an edge effect that causes their edges to be preferentially accelerated. We analytically compute the homologous collapse timescales of the interiors of uniform-density, self-gravitating filaments and find that the homologous collapse timescale scales linearly with the aspect ratio. The characteristic timescale for an edge driven collapse mode in a filament, however, is shown to have a square root dependence on the aspect ratio. For both filaments and circular sheets, we find that selective edge acceleration becomes more important with increasing aspect ratio. In general, we find that lower dimensional objects and objects with larger aspect ratios have longer collapse timescales. We show that estimates for star formation rates, based upon gas densities, can be overestimated by an order ...

The problem of communication between observers in the vicinity of a black hole in a Schwarzschild metric is considered. The classic example of an infalling observer Alice and a static distant mother station (MS) is extended to include a second infalling observer Bob, who follows Alice in falling towards the event horizon. Kruskal coordinates are…

Although nowadays there are mythbusting teams ready to empirically confirm or deny advertising claims that may seem too good to be true, it is often economically prohibitive to perform the kinds of experiments that are called for. It is therefore sometimes more sensible and efficacious to perform a thought experiment instead, especially if the…

Portable products can suffer critical damage due to drop impact and thus, such load cases must be taken into account in the conceptual and detailed design phases of such products. One method explored in the current study for alleviating the peak accelerations resulting from impact is to isolate frag

Dominant factors for escape after the first triple-encounter are searched for in the three-body problem with zero initial velocities and equal masses. By a global numerical survey on the whole initial-value space, it is found that not only a triple-collision orbit but also a particular family of binary-collision orbits exist in the set of escape orbits. This observation is justified from various viewpoints. Binary-collision orbits experiencing close triple-encounter turn out to be close to isosceles orbits after the encounter and hence lead to escape. Except for a few cases, binary-collision orbits of near-isosceles slingshot also escape.

Various proposed space experiments to test the weak equivalence principle (EP) use ultra-precise differential accelerometers in Earth orbit. A common feature of these accelerometers is that their test masses are physically constrained in some manner, thus imposing a limit on the achievable sensitivity. An alternative approach, analogous to the familiar drop-tower experiments, would be to release the masses inside an orbiting protective cavity, and infer the EP violation from observations of their relative trajectory. This paper addresses the errors inherent to such a scheme, focusing on the orbital mechanics aspects. Quantitative results are presented for a candidate sensing system. It is concluded that the technique is limited by initial condition errors, and will not reach the expected sensitivity of the spaceborne accelerometers.

In wind-fed X-ray binaries, the accreting matter is Compton cooled and falls freely onto the compact object. The matter has a modest angular momentum, $l$, and accretion is quasi-spherical at large distances from the compact object. Initially small non-radial velocities grow in the converging supersonic flow and become substantial in the vicinity of the accretor. The streamlines with $l>(GMR_*)^{1/2}$ (where $M$ and $R_*$ are the mass and radius of the compact object) intersect outside $R_*$ and form a two-dimensional caustic which emits X-rays. The streamlines with low angular momentum, $l

In wind-fed X-ray binaries the accreting matter is Compton-cooled and falls freely on to the compact object. The matter has a modest angular momentum l and accretion is quasi-spherical at large distances from the compact object. Initially small non-radial velocities grow in the converging supersonic flow and become substantial in the vicinity of the accretor. The streamlines with l>(GMR*)1/2 (where M and R* are the mass and radius of the compact object) intersect outside R* and form a two-dimensional caustic which emits X-rays. The streamlines with low angular momentum, lorbital phase of the binary. The accretor then appears as a `Moon-like' X-ray source.

In this paper, we review tests of the strong equivalence principle (SEP) derived from pulsar-white dwarf binary data. The extreme difference in the binding energy between both components and the precise measurement of the orbital motion provided by pulsar timing allow the only current precision SEP tests for strongly self-gravitating bodies. We start by highlighting why such tests are conceptually important. We then review previous work where limits on SEP violation are obtained with an ensemble of wide binary systems with small eccentricity orbits. Then, we propose a new SEP violation test based on the measurement of the variation of the orbital eccentricity (ė). This new method has the following advantages: (a) unlike previous methods it is not based on probabilistic considerations, (b) it can make a direct detection of SEP violation and (c) the measurement of ė is not contaminated by any known external effects, which implies that this SEP test is only restricted by the measurement precision of ė. In the final part of the review, we conceptually compare the SEP test with the test for dipolar radiation damping, a phenomenon closely related to SEP violation, and speculate on future prospects by new types of tests in globular clusters and future triple systems.

The conventional nature of synchronisation is discussed in inertial frames, where it is found that theories using different synchronisations are experimentally equivalent to special relativity. In contrary, in accelerated systems only a theory maintaining an absolute simultaneity is consistent with the natural behaviour of clocks. The principle of equivalence is discussed, and it is found that any synchronisation can be used locally in a freely falling frame. Whatever the chosen synchronisation, the first derivatives of the metric tensor disapear and a geodesic is locally a straight line. But it is shown that only a synchronisation maintaining an absolute simultaneity allows to define time consistently on circular orbits of a Schwarzschild metric. Key words: special and general relativity, synchronisation, one-way velocity of light, ether, principle of equivalence.

High temperatures inside the plasma of a carbon arc generate strong buoyancy driven convection which has an effect on the growth and morphology of the single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). To study the effect of buoyancy on the arc process, a miniature carbon arc apparatus was designed and developed to synthesize SWNTs in a microgravity environment substantially free from buoyant convective flows. An arc reactor was operated in the 2.2 and 5.18s drop towers at the NASA Glenn Research Center. The apparatus employed a 4mm diameter anode and was powered by a portable battery pack capable of providing in excess of 300A at 30V to the arc for the duration of a 5s drop. However, the principal result is that no dramatic difference in sample yield or composition was noted between normal gravity and 2.2 and 5s long microgravity runs. Much longer duration microgravity time is required for SWNT's growth such as the zero-G aircraft, but more likely will need to be performed on the international space station or an orbiting spacecraft.

In this short report, the authors want to stress the chaotic nature of the final motions of the problem with reference to the distribution of binary collision curves and triple collision points. The calculation extends to the escapes at the first three collapses of the triple system. The Aarseth code to obtain the final motions is used.

We investigate the collapse of non-spherical substructures, such as sheets and filaments, which are ubiquitous in molecular clouds. Such non-spherical substructures collapse homologously in their interiors but are influenced by an edge effect that causes their edges to be preferentially accelerated. We analytically compute the homologous collapse timescales of the interiors of uniform-density, self-gravitating filaments and find that the homologous collapse timescale scales linearly with the aspect ratio. The characteristic timescale for an edge-driven collapse mode in a filament, however, is shown to have a square-root dependence on the aspect ratio. For both filaments and circular sheets, we find that selective edge acceleration becomes more important with increasing aspect ratio. In general, we find that lower dimensional objects and objects with larger aspect ratios have longer collapse timescales. We show that estimates for star formation rates, based upon gas densities, can be overestimated by an order of magnitude if the geometry of a cloud is not taken into account.

There is a popular myth that Galileo dropped two objects of the same shape but different mass, noted their equal fall time, and concluded that gravitational motion is independent of the mass of the object. This paper demonstrates that this experiment—if actually performed—most likely would have yielded a different result and thus with modern eyes led to a different conclusion. The paper consists of two parts: (1) a theoretical description with a numerical and an analytical solution of the problem, and (2) an experiment of the Galilean type that provides experimental evidence within 1% accuracy that the theory applies. Previous papers on this subject have been almost exclusively theoretical and/or calculational, and we emphasize the suitability of the performed experiment as an affordable instructional exercise, e.g. for undergraduates. We find a difference in impact time of 0.109 s for otherwise nearly identical objects of masses differing by about a factor of 3, mlight = 57.52 g and mheavy = 173.62 g, dropped from a height of 23.192 m, about half of the height of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Very convincing agreement between experiment and theory, including an account of the fluid dynamics in air, is achieved. By use of the theory thus corroborated, the calculated difference in height at first impact corresponding to the Galilean case is about 5.8 m (assuming a lead ball and an ebony ball, each the size of a tennis ball), easily detectable both visually and, with a difference in impact time of about 0.22 s, aurally. The time difference is also sufficiently large to be unlikely to be caused by inaccuracy in release time. This gives an indication that if Galileo did actually perform the experiment, he may have chosen to neglect small differences (≃10%) in impact times observed using large differences (factor ≃ 10) in mass.

In this paper, we review tests of the strong equivalence principle (SEP) derived from binary pulsar data. The extreme difference in binding energy between both components and the precise measurement of the orbital motion provided by pulsar timing allow the only current precision SEP tests for strongly self-gravitating bodies. We start by highlighting why such tests are conceptually important. We then review previous work where limits on SEP violation are obtained with an ensemble of wide binary systems with small eccentricity orbits. Then we propose a new SEP violation test based on the measurement of the variation of the orbital eccentricity de/dt. This new method has the following advantages: a) unlike previous methods it is not based on probabilistic considerations, b) it can make a direct detection of SEP violation, c) the measurement of de/dt is not contaminated by any known external effects, which implies that this SEP test is only restricted by the measurement precision of de/dt. In the final part of t...

location of the cylinder by the divers in near- zero visibility at the sea bottom encountered in all deployment areas. The divers followed this line to the...Blue -> 31*(0 05). Black -> 5*(0 02) 6 Hemi average* Red -» hora .(CMO»005). Blue -» 31* (005). Black -» 5* (0.02) 6 1.5 2 T)me.(«) Fig. 4...that the values of the vertical velocity are not necessarily precisely zero at the time of release due to the ship’s motion. The internal cylinder

The paper (Rothleitner et al. 2014 Metrologia 51, L9) reports on the measurement of the speed-of-light perturbation in absolute gravimeters. The conclusion that the perturbation reaches only 2/3 of the commonly accepted value violates the fundamental limitation on the maximum speed of information transfer. The conclusion was deluded by unaccounted parasitic perturbations, some of which are obvious from the report.

High-speed planing craft are subjected to repeated slamming events in waves that can be very extreme depending on the wave topography, impact angle of the ship, forward speed of the ship, encounter angle, and height out of the water. The current work examines this fluid-structure interaction problem through the use of wedge drop experiments and a theoretical prediction. The experimental program consisted of two 20° deadrise angle wedges dropped from a range of heights, 0 . 15 code assumes a rigid structure, therefore, the results between the code and the first experiment are in good agreement. The second experiment shows pressure magnitudes that are lower than the predictions due to the energy required to deform the structure. This work is funded by the Office of Naval Research and the state of Louisiana Board of Regents Industrial Ties and Reseach Subprogram.

In this paper we present a qualitative outlook of mesoscopic biology where the typical length scale is of the order of nanometers and the energy scales comparable to thermal energy. Novel biomolecular machines, governed by coded information at the level of DNA and proteins, operate at these length scales in biological systems. In recent years advances in technology have led to the study of some of the design principles of these machines; in particular at the level of an individual molecule. For example, the forces that operate in molecular interactions, the stochasticity involved in these interactions and their spatio-temporal dynamics are beginning to be explored. Understanding such design principles is opening new possibilities in mesoscopic physics with potential applications.

This book discusses both taxonomic and ecological topics on marine biology. Full coverage of marine organisms of all five kingdoms is provided, along with interesting and thorough discussion of all major marine habitats. Organization into six major parts allows flexibility. It also provides insight into important topics such as disposal of nuclear waste at sea, the idea that life began on the ocean floor, and how whales, krill, and people interact. A full-color photo chapter reviews questions, and exercises. The contents are: an overview marine biology: fundamental concepts/investigating life in the ocean; the physical ocean, the ocean floor, the nature of water, the nature and motion of ocean water; general ecology, conditions for life in the sea, biological productivity and energy transfer; marine organisms; monera, protista, mycota and metaphyta; the smaller marine animals, the large animals marine habitats, the intertidal zone/benthos of the continental shelf, the photic zone, the deep ocean, the ocean under stress, marine pollution, appendix a: the metric system and conversion factors/ appendix b: prefixes and suffixes/ appendix c: taxonomic classification of common marine organisms, and glossary, and index.

Full Text Available One of the long-standing challenges in the field of polymer semiconductors is to figure out how long interpenetrating and entangled polymer chains self-assemble into single crystals from the solution phase or melt. The ability to produce these crystalline solids has fascinated scientists from a broad range of backgrounds including physicists, chemists, and engineers. Scientists are still on the hunt for determining the mechanism of crystallization in these information-rich materials. Understanding the theory and concept of crystallization of polymer semiconductors will undoubtedly transform this area from an art to an area that will host a bandwagon of scientists and engineers. In this article we describe the basic concept of crystallization and highlight some of the advances in polymer crystallization from crystals to nanocrystalline fibers.

Full Text Available Biology has entered a new era in distributing information based on database and this collection of database become primary in publishing information. This data publishing is done through Internet Gopher where information resources easy and affordable offered by powerful research tools. The more important thing now is the development of high quality and professionally operated electronic data publishing sites. To enhance the service and appropriate editorial and policies for electronic data publishing has been established and editors of article shoulder the responsibility.

These crystals are made from lead tungstate, a crystal that is as clear as glass yet with nearly four times the density. They have been produced in Russia to be used as scintillators in the electromagnetic calorimeter on the CMS experiment, part of the LHC project at CERN. When an electron, positron or photon passes through the calorimeter it will cause a cascade of particles that will then be absorbed by these scintillating crystals, allowing the particle's energy to be measured.

Interfacial phenomena are ubiquitous and extremely important in various aspects of biological and industrial processes. For example, many liquid crystal applications start by alignment with a surface. The underlying mechanisms of the molecular organization of liquid crystals at an interface are still under intensive study and continue to be important to the display industry in order to develop better and/or new display technology. My dissertation research has been devoted to studying how complex liquid crystals can be guided to organize at an interface, and to using my findings to develop practical applications. Specifically, I have been working on developing biosensors using liquid-crystal/surfactant/lipid/protein interactions as well as the alignment of low-symmetry liquid crystals for potential new display and optomechanical applications. The biotechnology industry needs better ways of sensing biomaterials and identifying various nanoscale events at biological interfaces and in aqueous solutions. Sensors in which the recognition material is a liquid crystal naturally connects the existing knowledge and experience of the display and biotechnology industries together with surface and soft matter sciences. This dissertation thus mainly focuses on the delicate phenomena that happen at liquid interfaces. In the introduction, I start by defining the interface and discuss its structure and the relevant interfacial forces. I then introduce the general characteristics of biosensors and, in particular, describe the design of biosensors that employ liquid crystal/aqueous solution interfaces. I further describe the basic properties of liquid crystal materials that are relevant for liquid crystal-based biosensing applications. In CHAPTER 2, I describe the simulation methods and experimental techniques used in this dissertation. In CHAPTER 3 and CHAPTER 4, I present my computer simulation work. CHAPTER 3 presents insight of how liquid crystal molecules are aligned by

We analyze the bandgap structure of Liquid Crystal infiltrated Photonic Crystal Fibers depending on the parameters of the Liquid Crystals by means of finite element simulations. For a biased Liquid Crystal Photonic Crystal Fiber, we show how the tunability of the bandgap position depends on the L...

In the last several years, we have witnessed significant advances in molecular ferroelectrics, with the ferroelectric properties of molecular crystals approaching those of barium titanate. In addition, ferroelectricity has been observed in biological systems, filling an important missing link in bioelectric phenomena. In this perspective, we will present short historical notes on ferroelectrics, followed by an overview of the fundamentals of ferroelectricity. The latest developments in molecular ferroelectrics and biological ferroelectricity will then be highlighted, and their implications and potential applications will be discussed. We close by noting molecular ferroelectric as an exciting frontier between electronics and biology, and a number of challenges ahead are also described.

Phononic crystals that have the ability to modify and control the thermal black body phonon distribution and the phonon component of heat transport in a solid. In particular, the thermal conductivity and heat capacity can be modified by altering the phonon density of states in a phononic crystal. The present invention is directed to phononic crystal devices and materials such as radio frequency (RF) tags powered from ambient heat, dielectrics with extremely low thermal conductivity, thermoelectric materials with a higher ratio of electrical-to-thermal conductivity, materials with phononically engineered heat capacity, phononic crystal waveguides that enable accelerated cooling, and a variety of low temperature application devices.

In this paper we present an interesting case of acute kidney injury and severe metabolic alkalosis in a patient with a history of heavy heroin abuse. Urine microscopy showed numerous broomstick-like crystals. These crystals are also identified in light and electron microscopy. We hypothesize that heroin crystalizes in an alkaline pH, resulting in tubular obstruction and acute kidney injury. Management is mainly supportive as there is no known specific therapy for this condition. This paper highlights the utility of urine microscopy in diagnosing the etiology of acute kidney injury and proposes a novel disease called heroin crystal nephropathy.

In this paper we introduce geometric crystals and unipotent crystals which are algebro-geometric analogues of Kashiwara's crystal bases. Given a reductive group G, let I be the set of vertices of the Dynkin diagram of G and T be the maximal torus of G. The structure of a geometric G-crystal on an algebraic variety X consists of a rational morphism \\gamma:X-->T and a compatible family e_i:G_m\\times X-->X, i\\in I of rational actions of the multiplicative group G_m satisfying certain braid-like ...

A tunable plasmonic crystal comprises several periods in a two-dimensional electron or hole gas plasmonic medium that is both extremely subwavelength (.about..lamda./100) and tunable through the application of voltages to metal electrodes. Tuning of the plasmonic crystal band edges can be realized in materials such as semiconductors and graphene to actively control the plasmonic crystal dispersion in the terahertz and infrared spectral regions. The tunable plasmonic crystal provides a useful degree of freedom for applications in slow light devices, voltage-tunable waveguides, filters, ultra-sensitive direct and heterodyne THz detectors, and THz oscillators.

A tunable plasmonic crystal comprises several periods in a two-dimensional electron or hole gas plasmonic medium that is both extremely subwavelength (.about..lamda./100) and tunable through the application of voltages to metal electrodes. Tuning of the plasmonic crystal band edges can be realized in materials such as semiconductors and graphene to actively control the plasmonic crystal dispersion in the terahertz and infrared spectral regions. The tunable plasmonic crystal provides a useful degree of freedom for applications in slow light devices, voltage-tunable waveguides, filters, ultra-sensitive direct and heterodyne THz detectors, and THz oscillators.

The production of crystals for the barrel of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter has been completed. This is an important milestone for the experiment, which received the last of its 62,960 crystals on 9 March. The members of the team responsible for the crystal acceptance testing at CERN display the last crystal for the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter barrel. From left to right: Igor Tarasov, Etiennette Auffray and Hervé Cornet.One of the six machines specially developed to measure 67 different parameters on each crystal. Igor Tarasov is seen inserting the last batch of crystals into the machine. The last of the 62,960 CMS barrel crystals arrived at CERN on 9 March. Once removed from its polystyrene protection, this delicate crystal, like thousands of its predecessors, will be inserted into the last of the 36 supermodules of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter in a few days' time. This marks the end of an important chapter in an almost 15-year-long journey by the CMS crystals team, some of whose member...

There are a number of situations in which substances of biological origin are employed as biomaterials. Most of them are macromolecules derived from isolated connective tissue or the connective tissue itself in membrane form, in both cases, the tissue can be used in its natural form or be chemically treated. In other cases, certain blood vessels can be chemically pretreated and used as vascular prostheses. Proteins such as albumin, collagen and fibrinogen are employed to coat vascular prostheses. Certain polysaccharides have also been tested for use in controlled drug release systems. Likewise, a number of tissues, such as dura mater, bovine pericardium, procine valves and human valves, are used in the preparation of cardiac prostheses. We also use veins from animals or humans in arterial replacement. In none of these cases are the tissues employed dissimilar to the native tissues as they have been chemically modified, becoming a new bio material with different physical and biochemical properties. In short, we find that natural products are being utilized as biomaterials and must be considered as such; thus, it is necessary to study both their chemicobiological and physicomechanical properties. In the present report, we review the current applications, problems and future prospects of some of these biological biomaterials. (Author) 84 refs.

@@ Consisting of five young researchers from the Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, the research group has been devoted to the interdisciplinary research in chemistry, materials science and chemical biology.To be specific, the focus of their research is to develop new functional molecular materials through rational molecular design and crystal engineering, including porous materials (or porous coordination polymers), electronic and magnetic molecular materials, bio-mimic materials, and supramolecular catalytical materials.

The study of defects and growth of protein crystals is of importance in providing a fundamental understanding of this important category of systems and the rationale for crystallization of better ordered crystals for structural determination and drug design. Yet, as a result of the extremely weak scattering power of x-rays in protein and other biological macromolecular crystals, the extinction lengths for those crystals are extremely large and, roughly speaking, of the order of millimeters on average compared to the scale of micrometers for most small molecular crystals. This has significant implication for x-ray diffraction and imaging study of protein crystals, and presents an interesting challenge to currently available x-ray analytical techniques. We proposed that coherence-based phase sensitive x-ray diffraction imaging could provide a way to augment defect contrast in x-ray diffraction images of weakly diffracting biological macromolecular crystals. I shall examine the principles and ideas behind this approach and compare it to other available x-ray topography and diffraction methods. I shall then present some recent experimental results in two model protein systems-cubic apofemtin and tetragonal lysozyme crystals to demonstrate the capability of the coherence-based imaging method in mapping point defects, dislocations, and the degree of perfection of biological macromolecular crystals with extreme sensitivity. While further work is under way, it is intended to show that the observed new features have yielded important information on protein crystal perfection and nucleation and growth mechanism otherwise unobtainable.

Photonic crystal fibers having a complex microstructure in the transverse plane constitute a new and promising class of optical fibers. Such fibers can either guide light through total internal reflection or the photonic bandgap effect, In this paper, we review the different types and applications...... of photonic crystal fibers with particular emphasis on recent advances in the field....

Describes an experiment where equal parts of copper and aluminum are heated then cooled to show extremely large crystals. Suggestions are given for changing the orientation of crystals by varying cooling rates. Students are more receptive to concepts of microstructure after seeing this experiment. (DH)

When students take action, they create change that extends far beyond the classroom. In this article, the author, who was a former teacher from Crystal City, Texas, remembers the student walkout that helped launch the Latino civil rights movement 40 years ago. The Crystal City student walkout remains a high point in the history of student activism…

Colloidal particles (approximately a micrometer in diameter) that are dispersed in a fluid, behave thermodynamically similar to atoms and molecules: at low concentrations they form a fluid, while at high concentrations they can crystallize into a colloidal crystal to gain entropy. The analogy with m

Selected topics that may be of interest for both crystal-structure and crystal-growth communities are overviewed. The growth of protein crystals, along with that of some other compounds, is one of the topics, and recent insights into related phenomena are considered as examples of applications of general principles. The relationship between crystal growth shape and structure is reviewed and an attempt to introduce semiquantitative characterization of binding for proteins is made. The concept of kinks for complex structures is briefly discussed. Even at sufficiently low supersaturations, the fluctuation of steps may not be sufficient to implement the Gibbs-Thomson law if the kink density is low enough. Subsurface ordering of liquids and growth of rough interfaces from melts is discussed. Crystals growing in microgravity from solution should be more perfect if they preferentially trap stress-inducing impurities, thus creating an impurity-depleted zone around themselves. Evidently, such a zone is developed only around the crystals growing in the absence of convection. Under terrestrial conditions, the self-purified depleted zone is destroyed by convection, the crystal traps more impurity and grows stressed. The stress relief causes mosaicity. In systems containing stress-inducing but poorly trapped impurities, the crystals grown in the absence of convection should be worse than those of their terrestrial counterparts.

Bent crystals can be used to deflect charged particle beams. Their use in high-energy accelerators has been investigated for almost 40 years. Recently, a bent crystal was irradiated for the first time in the HiRadMat facility with an extreme particle flux, which crystals would have to withstand in the LHC. The results were very encouraging and confirmed that this technology could play a major role in increasing the beam collimation performance in future upgrades of the machine. UA9 bent crystal tested with a laser. Charged particles interacting with a bent crystal can be trapped in channelling states and deflected by the atomic planes of the crystal lattice (see box). The use of bent crystals for beam manipulation in particle accelerators is a concept that has been well-assessed. Over the last three decades, a large number of experimental findings have contributed to furthering our knowledge and improving our ability to control crystal-particle interactions. In modern hadron colliders, su...

We propose a novel fiber attenuator based on photonic crystal fibers. The difference in the modal field diameters of a conventional single mode fiber and a photonic crystal fiber was used. A variable optical attenuator was also achieved by applying macro-bending on the PCF part of the proposed attenuator

Synthetic biology is a new discipline that combines science and engineering approaches to precisely control biological networks. These signaling networks are especially important in fields such as biomedicine and biochemical engineering. Additionally, biological networks can also be critical to the production of naturally occurring biological nanomaterials, and as a result, synthetic biology holds tremendous potential in creating new materials. This review introduces the field of synthetic biology, discusses how biological systems naturally produce materials, and then presents examples and strategies for incorporating synthetic biology approaches in the development of new materials. In particular, strategies for using synthetic biology to produce both organic and inorganic nanomaterials are discussed. Ultimately, synthetic biology holds the potential to dramatically impact biological materials science with significant potential applications in medical systems.

Structuralism in biology is the oldest trend oriented to the search for natural "laws of forms" comparable with laws of growth of crystal, was revived at the end of 20th century on the basis of structuralist thought in socio-humanitarian sciences. The development of principal ideas of the linguistic structuralism in some aspects is similar to that of biological systematics, especially concerning the relationships between "system" and "evolution". However, apart from this general similarity, biological structuralism is strongly focused on familiar problems of the origin of diversity in nature. In their striving for the renovation of existing views, biological structuralists oppose the neo-darwinism emphasizing the existence of "law of forms", that are independent on heredity and genetic "determinism". The trend to develop so-called "rational taxonomy" is also characteristic of biological structuralism but this attempt failed being connected neither with Darwin's historicism nor with Plato's typology.

As technology advances, the crystal volume that can be used to collect useful X-ray diffraction data decreases. The technologies available to detect and study growing crystals beyond the optical resolution limit and methods to successfully place the crystal into the X-ray beam are discussed. Structural biology has contributed tremendous knowledge to the understanding of life on the molecular scale. The Protein Data Bank, a depository of this structural knowledge, currently contains over 100 000 protein structures, with the majority stemming from X-ray crystallography. As the name might suggest, crystallography requires crystals. As detectors become more sensitive and X-ray sources more intense, the notion of a crystal is gradually changing from one large enough to embellish expensive jewellery to objects that have external dimensions of the order of the wavelength of visible light. Identifying these crystals is a prerequisite to their study. This paper discusses developments in identifying these crystals during crystallization screening and distinguishing them from other potential outcomes. The practical aspects of ensuring that once a crystal is identified it can then be positioned in the X-ray beam for data collection are also addressed.

We are developing a novel technique with which we will grow protein crystals in very small volumes, utilizing chip-based, microfluidic ("LabChip") technology. This development, which is a collaborative effort between NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Caliper Technologies Corporation, promises a breakthrough in the field of protein crystal growth. Our initial results obtained from two model proteins, Lysozyme and Thaumatin, show that it is feasible to dispense and adequately mix protein and precipitant solutions on a nano-liter scale. The mixtures have shown crystal growth in volumes in the range of 10 nanoliters to 5 microliters. In addition, large diffraction quality crystals were obtained by this method. X-ray data from these crystals were shown to be of excellent quality. Our future efforts will include the further development of protein crystal growth with LabChip(trademark) technology for more complex systems. We will initially address the batch growth method, followed by the vapor diffusion method and the liquid-liquid diffusion method. The culmination of these chip developments is to lead to an on orbit protein crystallization facility on the International Space Station. Structural biologists will be invited to utilize the on orbit Iterative BiologicalCrystallization facility to grow high quality macromolecular crystals in microgravity.

This thesis deals with the fabrication and characterization of active photonic crystal waveguides, realized in III-V semiconductor material with embedded active layers. The platform offering active photonic crystal waveguides has many potential applications. One of these is a compact photonic...... crystal semiconductor optical amplier. As a step towards such a component, photonic crystal waveguides with a single quantum well, 10 quantum wells and three layers of quantum dots are fabricated and characterized. An experimental study of the amplied spontaneous emission and a implied transmission...... are presented in this thesis. A variation of photonic crystal design parameters are used leading to a spectral shift of the dispersion, it is veried that the observed effects shift accordingly. An enhancement of the amplified spontaneous emission was observed close to the band edge, where light is slowed down...

In the paper, we present a new kind of function photonic crystals, which refractive index is a function of space position. Unlike conventional PCs, which structure grow from two materials, A and B, with different dielectric constants $\\epsilon_{A}$ and $\\epsilon_{B}$. By Fermat principle, we give the motion equations of light in one-dimensional, two-dimensional and three-dimensional function photonic crystals. For one-dimensional function photonic crystals, we study the dispersion relation, band gap structure and transmissivity, and compare them with conventional photonic crystals. By choosing various refractive index distribution function $n(z)$, we can obtain more width or more narrow band gap structure than conventional photonic crystals.

The renewal of interest for Time of Flight Positron Emission Tomography (TOF PET) has highlighted the need for increasing the light output of scintillating crystals and in particular for improving the light extraction from materials with a high index of refraction. One possible solution to overcome the problem of total internal reflection and light losses resulting from multiple bouncing within the crystal is to improve the light extraction efficiency at the crystal/photodetector interface by means of photonic crystals, i.e. media with a periodic modulation of the dielectric constant at the wavelength scale. After a short reminder of the underlying principles this contribution proposes to present the very encouraging results we have recently obtained on LYSO pixels and the perspectives on other crystals such as BGO, LuYAP and LuAG. These results confirm the impressive predictions from our previously published Monte Carlo simulations. A detailed description of the sample preparation procedure is given as well ...

Optical anomalies in crystals are puzzles that collectively constituted the greatest unsolved problems in crystallography in the 19th Century. The most common anomaly is a discrepancy between a crystal’s symmetry as determined by its shape or by X-ray analysis, and that determined by monitoring the polarization state of traversing light. These discrepancies were perceived as a great impediment to the development of the sciences of crystals on the basis of Curie’s Symmetry Principle, the grand organizing idea in the physical sciences to emerge in the latter half of the 19th Century. Optically Anomalous Crystals begins with an historical introduction covering the contributions of Brewster, Biot, Mallard, Brauns, Tamman, and many other distinguished crystallographers. From this follows a tutorial in crystal optics. Further chapters discuss the two main mechanisms of optical dissymmetry: 1. the piezo-optic effect, and 2. the kinetic ordering of atoms. The text then tackles complex, inhomogeneous crystals, and...

In this thesis the crystallization behavior of isotactic polystyrene has been described. The kinetics of the crystallization process and the crystalline structure were studied both for crystallization in the bulk and from dilute solutions. ... Zie Summary

Photonic crystal surfaces offer a compelling platform for improving the sensitivity of surface-based fluorescent assays used in disease diagnostics. Through the complementary processes of photonic crystal enhanced excitation and enhanced extraction, a periodic dielectric-based nanostructured surface can simultaneously increase the electric field intensity experienced by surface-bound fluorophores and increase the collection efficiency of emitted fluorescent photons. Through the ability to inexpensively fabricate photonic crystal surfaces over substantial surface areas, they are amenable to single-use applications in biological sensing, such as disease biomarker detection in serum. In this review, we will describe the motivation for implementing high-sensitivity, multiplexed biomarker detection in the context of breast cancer diagnosis. We will summarize recent efforts to improve the detection limits of such assays though the use of photonic crystal surfaces. Reduction of detection limits is driven by low autofluorescent substrates for photonic crystal fabrication, and detection instruments that take advantage of their unique features.

Fluidigm released the Topaz 1.96 and 4.96 crystallization chips in the fall of 2004. Topaz 1.96 and 4.96 are the latest evolution of Fluidigm's microfluidics crystallization technologies that enable ultra low volume rapid screening for macromolecular crystallization. Topaz 1.96 and 4.96 are similar to each other but represent a major redesign of the Topaz system and have of substantially improved ease of automation and ease of use, improved efficiency and even further reduced amount of material needed. With the release of the new Topaz system, Fluidigm continues to set the standard in low volume crystallization screening which is having an increasing impact in the field of structural genomics, and structural biology more generally. In to the future we are likely to see further optimization and increased utility of the Topaz crystallization system, but we are also likely to see further innovation and the emergence of competing technologies.

. In particular, molecular crystals, which are typically dominated by ionic and covalent bonding, are an order of magnitude more strongly bonded than colloidal crystals. In molecular crystals, ordering is driven by the interaction potentials between molecules. By contrast, colloidal assembly is a competition between the repulsive electrostatic forces that prevent aggregation in solution (due to surface charge), and short-range van der Waals and entropic forces that leads to ordering. Understanding atomic crystallization is fundamentally important for fabrication of tailorable crystalline materials, for example for biological or chemical sensors. The transformation of brushite to OCP not only serves as a model system for atomic crystal growth (applicable to many other crystal growth processes), but is also important in bone cements. Colloidal crystals have unique optical properties which respond to chemical and mechanical stimuli, making them very important for sensing applications. The mechanism of colloidal crystal assembly is thus fundamentally important. Our in situ dissolution and regrowth experiments are one good method of analyzing how these crystals pack under different conditions and how defect sites are formed and filled. In these experiments, a silica additive was used to strengthen the colloidal crystal during initial assembly (ex situ) and to increase domain size and long range order. Reversible electrodeposition of colloids onto a conductive substrate (ITO in our case) is another system which can further our knowledge of colloidal assembly. This experiment holds promise of allowing in situ observation of colloidal crystal growth and the influence of certain additives on crystal order. The ultimate goal would be to achieve long range order in these crystals by changing the surface charge or the growth environment.

Crystals of voriconazole, an antifungal drug, are soft in nature, and this is disadvantageous during compaction studies where pressure is applied on the solid. Crystal engineering is used to make cocrystals and salts with modified mechanical properties (e.g., hardness). Cocrystals with biologically safe coformers such as fumaric acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, and 4-aminobenzoic acid and salts with hydrochloric acid and oxalic acid are prepared through solvent assisted grinding. The presence (salt) or absence (cocrystal) of proton transfer in these multicomponent crystals is unambiguously confirmed with single crystal X-ray diffraction. All the cocrystals have 1:1 stoichiometry, whereas salts exhibit variable stoichiometries such as HCl salt (1:2) and oxalate salts (1:1.5 and 1:1). The nanoindentation technique was applied on single crystals of the salts and cocrystals. The salts exhibit better hardness than the drug and cocrystals in the order salts ≫ drug > cocrystals. The molecular origin of this mechanical modulation is explained on the basis of slip planes in the crystal structure and relative orientations of the molecules with respect to the nanoindentation direction. The hydrochloride salt is the hardest solid in this family. This may be useful for tableting of the drug during formulation and in drug development.

Chinese Biological Abstracts sponsored by the Library, the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, the Biological Documentation and Information Network, all of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, commenced publication in 1987 and was initiated to provide access to the Chinese information in the field of biology.

It is widely accepted that the brain processes biological and non-biological movements in distinct neural circuits. Biological motion, in contrast to non-biological motion, refers to active movements of living beings. Aim of our experiment was to investigate the mechanisms underlying mental simulation of these two movement types. Subjects had to…

Crystals of specified shape and size (shaped crystals) with controlled crystal growth (SCG) defect and impurity structure have to be grown for the successful development of modern engineering. Since the 1950s many hundreds of papers and patents concerned with shaped growth have been published. In this chapter, we do not try to enumerate the successful applications of shaped growth to different materials but rather to carry out a fundamental physical and mathematical analysis of shaping as well as the peculiarities of shaped crystal structures. Four main techniques, based on which the lateral surface can be shaped without contact with the container walls, are analyzed: the Czochralski technique (CZT), the Verneuil technique (VT), the floating zone technique (FZT), and technique of pulling from shaper (TPS). Modifications of these techniques are analyzed as well. In all these techniques the shape of the melt meniscus is controlled by surface tension forces, i.e., capillary forces, and here they are classified as capillary shaping techniques (CST). We look for conditions under which the crystal growth process in each CST is dynamically stable. Only in this case are all perturbations attenuated and a crystal of constant cross section shaping technique (CST) grown without any special regulation. The dynamic stability theory of the crystal growth process for all CST is developed on the basis of Lyapunov's dynamic stability theory. Lyapunov's equations for the crystal growth processes follow from fundamental laws. The results of the theory allow the choice of stable regimes for crystal growth by all CST as well as special designs of shapers in TPS. SCG experiments by CZT, VT, and FZT are discussed but the main consideration is given to TPS. Shapers not only allow crystal of very complicated cross section to be grown but provide a special distribution of impurities. A history of TPS is provided later in the chapter, because it can only be described after explanation of the

Many molecules which are achiral can crystallize in chiral (enantiomorphic) crystals and, under suitable conditions, crystals of only one chirality may be obtained. The formation of right- or left-handed crystals in excess is equally probable. Lattice-controlled (topochemical) photochemical or thermal solid-state reactions may then afford stable, optically active products. In the presence of the chiral products, achiral reactants may preferentially produce crystals of one chirality, leading to a feedback mechanism for the generation and amplification of optical activity. Amplification of optical activity can also be achieved by solid-state reactions. The optical synthesis of biologically relevant compounds by such routes may be envisaged.

Physical properties of crystals, such as size, crystal size distribution and morphology, may predetermine the usefulness of crystalline materials in many pharmaceutical application. The above properties can be regulated with the crystallization process. The spherical crystals are suitable for direct tablet-making because of their better flowability and compressibility properties. These crystals can be used in the filling of the capsule. In this work, the spherical crystals such as "single crystal", "poly-crystals" and agglomerates with other excipients are collected from the literature and the experimental results of the authors. A close cooperation between chemists and the pharmaceutical technologists can help for doing steps in this field.

Large-scale screening of hundreds or even thousands of crystallization conditions while with low sample consumption is in urgent need, in current structural biology research. Here we describe a fully-automated droplet robot for nanoliter-scale crystallization screening that combines the advantages of both automated robotics technique for protein crystallization screening and the droplet-based microfluidic technique. A semi-contact dispensing method was developed to achieve flexible, programmable and reliable liquid-handling operations for nanoliter-scale protein crystallization experiments. We applied the droplet robot in large-scale screening of crystallization conditions of five soluble proteins and one membrane protein with 35-96 different crystallization conditions, study of volume effects on protein crystallization, and determination of phase diagrams of two proteins. The volume for each droplet reactor is only ca. 4-8 nL. The protein consumption significantly reduces 50-500 fold compared with current crystallization stations.

A process for growing single crystals from an amorphous substance that can undergo phase transformation to the crystalline state in an appropriate solvent. The process is carried out in an autoclave having a lower dissolution zone and an upper crystallization zone between which a temperature differential (.DELTA.T) is maintained at all times. The apparatus loaded with the substance, solvent, and seed crystals is heated slowly maintaining a very low .DELTA.T between the warmer lower zone and cooler upper zone until the amorphous substance is transformed to the crystalline state in the lower zone. The heating rate is then increased to maintain a large .DELTA.T sufficient to increase material transport between the zones and rapid crystallization. .alpha.-Quartz single crystal can thus be made from fused quartz in caustic solvent by heating to 350.degree. C. stepwise with a .DELTA.T of 0.25.degree.-3.degree. C., increasing the .DELTA.T to about 50.degree. C. after the fused quartz has crystallized, and maintaining these conditions until crystal growth in the upper zone is completed.

A copper(Ⅱ) complex [Cu2(NO3)2L(phen)2(H2O)]NO3,(HL=2-phenyl-4-selenazole carboxylic acid,phen=1,10-phenanthroline),was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and IR spectra.Its crystal structure was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction method.The complex,C34H24N8Cu2O12Se,crystallized in the triclinic system,space group P1-.The interaction of the complex with DNA was studied by ethidium bromide (EB) fluorescence spectroscopy.The antibacterial activities of the ligand and the complex against five species of bacteria,Escherichia coli (E.coli),Staphylococcus epidermidis (S.epidermidis),Streptococcus viridans (S.viridans),Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) and Acinetobacter baumanii (A.baumanii),were tested respectively.The anticancer activities of the ligand and the complex against human pancreatic cancer line PANC-28 and human hepatocarcinoma line HuH7 were also studied by employing MTT assay.The results revealed that the complex possessed significant biological activity.CCDC:804066.%采用溶液法合成了一种新型铜(Ⅱ)配合物[Cu2(NO3)2L(phen)2(H2O)]NO3(HL=2-苯基-4-硒唑甲酸,phen=1,10-邻菲啰啉).用元素分析、红外光谱等表征手段确定了配合物的组成；用单晶X-射线衍射测定了配合物的晶体结构.配合物C34H24Cu2N8O12Se属于三斜晶系,空间群P1-.用溴化乙锭荧光探针法研究了配合物与DNA的相互作用.分别考察了配体和配合物对五种细菌:大肠埃氏杆菌(E.coli),表皮葡萄球菌(S.epidermidis),草绿色链球菌S.viridans),金黄色葡萄球菌(S.aureus),鲍曼不动杆菌(A.baumanii)的抗菌活性.同时也考察了配体和配合物对人类胰腺癌PANC-28细胞和人类肝癌HuH7细胞的体外增殖抑制作用.实验结果表明配合物具有良好的生物活性.

We have made images of crystals illuminated with polarized light for almost two decades. Early on, we abandoned photosensitive chemicals in favor of digital electrophotometry with all of the attendant advantages of quantitative intensity data. Accurate intensities are a boon because they can be used to analytically discriminate small effects in the presence of larger ones. The change in the form of our data followed camera technology that transformed picture taking the world over. Ironically, exposures in early photographs were presumed to correlate simply with light intensity, raising the hope that photography would replace sensorial interpretation with mechanical objectivity and supplant the art of visual photometry. This was only true in part. Quantitative imaging accurate enough to render the separation of crystalloptical quantities had to await the invention of the solid-state camera. Many pioneers in crystal optics were also major figures in the early history of photography. We draw out the union of optical crystallography and photography because the tree that connects the inventors of photography is a structure unmatched for organizing our work during the past 20 years, not to mention that silver halide crystallites used in chemical photography are among the most consequential "crystals in light", underscoring our title. We emphasize crystals that have acquired optical properties such as linear birefringence, linear dichroism, circular birefringence, and circular dichroism, during growth from solution. Other crystalloptical effects were discovered that are unique to curiously dissymmetric crystals containing embedded oscillators. In the aggregate, dyed crystals constitute a generalization of single crystal matrix isolation. Simple crystals provided kinetic stability to include guests such as proteins or molecules in excited states. Molecular lifetimes were extended for the preparation of laser gain media and for the study of the photodynamics of single

A tutorial presentation is given of Raman scattering in crystals. The physical concepts are emphasized rather than the detailed mathematical formalism. Starting with an introduction to the concepts of phonons and conservation laws, the effects of photon-phonon interactions are presented. This interaction concept is shown for a simple cubic crystal and is extended to a uniaxial crystal. The correlation table method is used for determining the number and symmetry of the Raman active modes. Finally, examples are given to illustrate the relative ease of using this group theoretical method and the predictions are compared with measured Raman spectra. 37 refs., 17 figs., 6 tabs.

The crystallization transition of an undercooled monodisperse Lennard-Jones fluid in the presence of small prestructured seeds is studied with transition path sampling combined with molecular dynamics simulations. Compared to the homogeneous crystallization, clusters of a few particles arranged into a face- and body-centered cubic structure enhance the crystallization, while icosahedrally ordered seeds do not change the reaction rate. We identify two distinct nucleation regimes-close to the seed and in the bulk. Crystallites form close to the face- and body-centered structures and tend to stay away from the icosahedrally ordered seeds.

Hirshfeld surface analysis has developed from the serendipitous discovery of a novel partitioning of the crystal electron density into discrete molecular fragments, to a suite of computational tools used widely for the identification, analysis and discussion of intermolecular interactions in molecular crystals. The relationship between the Hirshfeld surface and very early ideas on the internal structure of crystals is outlined, and applications of Hirshfeld surface analysis are presented for three molecules of historical importance in the development of modern x-ray crystallography: hexamethylbenzene, hexamethylenetetramine and diketopiperazine.

In this Letter we propose the use of hypersonic phononic crystals to control the emission and propagation of high frequency phonons. We report the fabrication of high quality, single crystalline hypersonic crystals using interference lithography and show that direct measurement of their phononic band structure is possible with Brillouin light scattering. Numerical calculations are employed to explain the nature of the observed propagation modes. This work lays the foundation for experimental studies of hypersonic crystals and, more generally, phonon-dependent processes in nanostructures.

Although carbonate-precipitating cyanobacteria are ubiquitous in aquatic ecosystems today, the criteria used to identify them in the geological record are subjective and rarely testable. Differences in the mode of biomineralization between cyanobacteria and metazoans, i.e. biologically induced calcification (BIM) vs. biologically controlled calcification (BCM) might be possible to discern through different crystallographic structures in which they result. We employed electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) to investigate the structure of calcareous skeletons in two microproblematica widespread in Paleozoic marine ecosystems: Rothpletzella Wood 1945, considered to be a cyanobacterium, and Allonema Ulrich & Bassler 1904. We used a calcareous trilobite shell as a reference. The shell of Allonema has a simple single-layered structure of acicular crystals perpendicular to the surface of the organism. The c-axes of these crystals are parallel to the elongation and thereby normal to the surface of the organism. The pole figures and misorientation axis distribution reveal a fiber texture around the c-axis with a small degree of variation (up to 30°), indicating a well-organized structure. A comparable pattern was found in the trilobite shell. This structure allows excluding biologically induced mineralization as the mechanism of shell formation in Allonema. In Rothpletzella the c-axes of the microcrystalline sheath show a broader clustering compared to Allonema, but still reveal crystals tending to be perpendicular to the surface of the organism. The misorientation axes of adjacent crystals show a random distribution. However, Rothpletzella also shares other morphological similarities with fossil and extant cyanobacteria. We propose that the strict limitation of rotations (misorientations) between adjacent crystals around a specific axis of the crystal system can be used as a criterion to distinguish shells formed through biologically controlled biomineralization.

A "crystal hotel" microfluidic device that allows crystal growth in confined volumes to be studied in situ is used to produce large calcite single crystals with predefined crystallographic orientation, microstructure, and shape by control of the detailed physical environment, flow, and surface chemistry. This general approach can be extended to form technologically important, nanopatterned single crystals.

We present a systematic study of the cuticular structure in the butterfly wing scales of some papilionids (Parides sesostris and Teinopalpus imperialis) and lycaenids (Callophrys rubi, Cyanophrys remus, Mitoura gryneus and Callophrys dumetorum). Using published scanning and transmission electron mic

Crystallization growth of single-crystal Cu by continuous casting has been investigated using selfdesigned horizontal continuous casting equipment and XRD. Experimental results showed that the crystallization plane of (311), (220) and (111) were eliminated sequentially in evolutionary process. The final growth plane of crystal was (200), the direction of crystallization was [100],the growth direction of both sides of the rod inclined to axis, and the degree of deviation of direction [100] from the crystal axis was less than 10. In order to produce high quality single crystal, the solid-liquid interface morphology must be smooth, even be planar.

We apply our deformation theory of periodic bar-and-joint frameworks to tetrahedral crystal structures. The deformation space is investigated in detail for frameworks modelled on quartz, cristobalite and tridymite.

It has been shown that to calculate the parameters of the electrostatic field of the ion crystal lattice it sufficient to take into account ions located at a distance of 1-2 lattice spacings. More distant ions make insignificant contribution. As a result, the electrostatic energy of the ion lattice in the alkaline halide crystal produced by both positive and negative ions is in good agreement with experiment when the melting temperature and the shear modulus are calculated. For fcc and bcc metals the ion lattice electrostatic energy is not sufficient to obtain the observed values of these parameters. It is possible to resolve the contradiction if one assumes that the electron density is strongly localized and has a crystal structure described by the lattice delta - function. As a result, positive charges alternate with negative ones as in the alkaline halide crystal. Such delta-like localization of the electron density is known as a model of nearly free electrons.

Electrophoresis is size and shape independent as stressed by Morrison in his seminal paper. Here we present an original approach to reshape colloidal crystals using an electric field as a carving tool.

The shape and the size of inclusions in DKDP crystal have been observed and measured microscopically.Three kinds of inclusions were found and the components of the inclusions were measured. The formation mechanisms were proposed and discussed.``

Cellular biology has long been restricted to large cellular organisms. However, as the resolution of microscopic methods increased, it became possible to study smaller cells, in particular bacterial cells. Bacteriophage biology is one aspect of bacterial cell biology that has recently gained insight from cell biology. Despite their small size, bacteriophages could be successfully labeled and their cycle studied in the host cells. This review aims to put together, although non-extensively, several cell biology studies that recently pushed the elucidation of key mechanisms in phage biology, such as the lysis-lysogeny decision in temperate phages or genome replication and transcription, one step further.

81/2X 11- 10 -9 .8 display using a large advertising alphanimeric ( TCI ) has been added to the front of the optical box used in the F-4 aircraft for HUD...properties over a wide range of tempera - tures, including normal room temperature. What are Liquid Crystals? Liquid crystals have been classified in three...natic fanctions and to present data needed for the semi- automatic and manual control of system functions. Existing aircraft using CRT display

Several nitrogen-rich salts of 3-nitramino-4-nitrofurazane and dinitraminoazoxyfurazane were synthesized and characterized by various spectroscopic methods. The crystal structures were determined by low temperature single crystal X-ray diffraction. Moreover the sensitivities toward thermal and mechanical stimuli were determined by differential thermal analysis (DTA) and BAM (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung) methods. The standard enthalpies of formation were calculated for all...

Protein structural information plays a key role in understanding biological structure-function relationships and in the development of new pharmaceuticals for both chronic and infectious diseases. The Center for Macromolecular Crystallography (CMC) has devoted considerable effort studying the fundamental processes involved in macromolecular crystal growth both in a 1-g and microgravity environment. Results from experiments performed on more than 35 U.S. space shuttle flights have clearly indicated that microgravity can provide a beneficial environment for macromolecular crystal growth. This research has led to the development of a new generation of pharmaceuticals that are currently in preclinical or clinical trials for diseases such as cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, AIDS, influenza, stroke and other cardiovascular complications. The International Space Station (ISS) provides an opportunity to have complete crystallographic capability on orbit, which was previously not possible with the space shuttle orbiter. As envisioned, the x-ray Crystallography Facility (XCF) will be a complete facility for growing protein crystals; selecting, harvesting, and mounting sample crystals for x-ray diffraction; cryo-freezing mounted crystals if necessary; performing x-ray diffraction studies; and downlinking the data for use by crystallographers on the ground. Other advantages of such a facility include crystal characterization so that iterations in the crystal growth conditions can be made, thereby optimizing the final crystals produced in a three month interval on the ISS.

The end-caps of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) take shape as the first quadrant was completed on Wednesday 3 October. 1831 crystals, organised into five by five blocks named ‘supercrystals’, make up the first quadrant of Dee 1.With the 61,200-crystal barrel of its electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) complete, CMS is now building the endcaps, on the tenth anniversary of their initial design. Crystals for the endcaps were the last to be made, so the race is now on to have them all in place and ready for the turn-on of the LHC next year. Assembly of the first of eight quadrants began in June and crystal mounting was completed on Wednesday 3 October. Each crystal is transparent, has a volume just larger than a CERN coffee cup yet weighs a huge 1.5kg. 1831 of these lead tungstate crystals went into the first quadrant from a total 14,648 in the endcaps. The lead and tungsten account for 86% of each crystal’s weight, but as project leader Dave Cockerill expl...

Protein structure determination by X-ray crystallography is dependent on obtaining a single protein crystal suitable for diffraction data collection. Due to this requirement, protein crystallization represents a key step in protein structure determination. The conditions for protein crystallization have to be determined empirically for each protein, making this step also a bottleneck in the structure determination process. Typical protein crystallization practice involves parallel setup and monitoring of a considerable number of individual protein crystallization experiments (also called crystallization trials). In these trials the aliquots of purified protein are mixed with a range of solutions composed of a precipitating agent, buffer, and sometimes an additive that have been previously successful in prompting protein crystallization. The individual chemical conditions in which a particular protein shows signs of crystallization are used as a starting point for further crystallization experiments. The goal is optimizing the formation of individual protein crystals of sufficient size and quality to make them suitable for diffraction data collection. Thus the composition of the primary crystallization screen is critical for successful crystallization.Systematic analysis of crystallization experiments carried out on several hundred proteins as part of large-scale structural genomics efforts allowed the optimization of the protein crystallization protocol and identification of a minimal set of 96 crystallization solutions (the "TRAP" screen) that, in our experience, led to crystallization of the maximum number of proteins.

Large-scale screening of hundreds or even thousands of crystallization conditions while with low sample consumption is in urgent need, in current structural biology research. Here we describe a fully-automated droplet robot for nanoliter-scale crystallization screening that combines the advantages of both automated robotics technique for protein crystallization screening and the droplet-based microfluidic technique. A semi-contact dispensing method was developed to achieve flexible, programma...

Three different crystal forms were obtained of human saposin C. The structures could not be determined by molecular replacement using known solution structures of the protein as search models, supporting the notion of a highly flexible protein. The amphiphilic saposin proteins (A, B, C and D) act at the lipid–water interface in lysosomes, mediating the hydrolysis of membrane building blocks by water-soluble exohydrolases. Human saposin C activates glucocerebrosidase and β-galactosylceramidase. The protein has been expressed in Pichia pastoris, purified and crystallized in three different crystal forms, diffracting to a maximum resolution of 2.5 Å. Hexagonal crystals grew from 2-propanol-containing solution and contain a single molecule in the asymmetric unit according to the Matthews coefficient. Orthorhombic and tetragonal crystals were both obtained with pentaerythritol ethoxylate and are predicted to contain two molecules in the asymmetric unit. Attempts to determine the respective crystal structures by molecular replacement using either the known NMR structure of human saposin C or a related crystal structure as search models have so far failed. The failure of the molecular-replacement method is attributed to conformational changes of the protein, which are known to be required for its biological activity. Crystal structures of human saposin C therefore might be the key to mapping out the conformational trajectory of saposin-like proteins.

Although the fundamental mechanism of crystal growth has received and continues to receive deserved attention as a research activity, similar research efforts addressing the need for advanced materials and processing technology required to grow future high quality crystals has been sorely lacking. The purpose of this research effort is to develop advanced rapid growth processing technologies and materials suitable for providing the quality of products needed for advanced laser and photonics applications. In particular we are interested in developing a methodology for growing high quality KDP crystals based on an understanding of the fundamental mechanisms affecting growth. One problem in particular is the issue of control of impurities during the growth process. Many unwanted impurities are derived from the growth system containers and can adversely affect the optical quality and aspect ratio (shape) of the crystals. Previous studies have shown that even trace concentrations ({approx}10{sup -9} M) of impurities affect growth and even 'insignificant' species can have a large impact. It is also known that impurities affect the two growth faces of KDP very differently. Traces of trivalent metal impurities such as Fe{sup 3+}, Cr{sup 3+}, and Al{sup 3+} in solution are known to inhibit growth of the prismatic {l_brace}100{r_brace} faces of KDP while having little effect on the growth of the pyramidal {l_brace}101{r_brace} faces. This differentiation opens the possibility of intentionally adding select ions to control the aspect ratio of the crystal to obtain a more advantageous shape. This document summarizes our research efforts to improve KDP crystal growth. The first step was to control unwanted impurity addition from the growth vessel by developing an FEP liner to act as a barrier to the glass container. The other focus to develop an understanding of select impurities on growth rates in order to be able to use them to control the habit or shape of the

Protein crystallization has been known since 1840 and can prove to be straightforward but, in most cases, it constitutes a real bottleneck. This stimulated the birth of the biocrystallogenesis field with both 'practical' and 'basic' science aims. In the early years of biochemistry, crystallization was a tool for the preparation of biological substances. Today, biocrystallogenesis aims to provide efficient methods for crystal fabrication and a means to optimize crystal quality for X-ray crystallography. The historical development of crystallization methods for structural biology occurred first in conjunction with that of biochemical and genetic methods for macromolecule production, then with the development of structure determination methodologies and, recently, with routine access to synchrotron X-ray sources. Previously, the identification of conditions that sustain crystal growth occurred mostly empirically but, in recent decades, this has moved progressively towards more rationality as a result of a deeper understanding of the physical chemistry of protein crystal growth and the use of idea-driven screening and high-throughput procedures. Protein and nucleic acid engineering procedures to facilitate crystallization, as well as crystallization methods in gelled-media or by counter-diffusion, represent recent important achievements, although the underlying concepts are old. The new nanotechnologies have brought a significant improvement in the practice of protein crystallization. Today, the increasing number of crystal structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank could mean that crystallization is no longer a bottleneck. This is not the case, however, because structural biology projects always become more challenging and thereby require adapted methods to enable the growth of the appropriate crystals, notably macromolecular assemblages.

Protein crystal growth experiments have been performed on a series of US shuttle missions. Crystallographic studies of proteins and nucleic acids have played key roles in establishing the structural foundations of molecular biology and biochemistry and for revealing structure/function relationships that are of major importance in understanding how macromolecules operate in biological systems. A number of major advances in the technology involved in determining protein structures have shortened the time span involved in structure determination. The major bottleneck in the widespread application of protein crystallography is the ability to produce high quality crystals that are suitable for a complete structural analysis. Evidence from several investigations indicates that crystals of superior quality can be obtained in a microgravity environment. This paper summarizes results obtained from a series of US shuttle missions and describes new hardware currently being developed for future shuttle missions.

The A2 collaboration of the MAinz MIkrotron is dedicated to studying meson production and nucleon structure and behavior via photon scattering. The photons are made via bremsstrahlung process and energy-tagged using the Glasgow Photon tagger. The photon beam then interacts in a variety of targets: cryogenic, polarized or solid state, and scattered particles deposit their energy within the NaI crystals. Scintillators are able to give results on particles energy and time. Events are reconstructed by combining information from the Tagging spectrometer, the Crystal Ball detector, the TAPS forward wall spectrometer, a Cherenkov detector, and multi-wire proportional chambers. To better understand the detector and experimental events, a live display was built to show energies deposited in crystals in real-time. In order to show a range of energies and particles, addressable LEDs that are individually programmable were used. To best replicate the Crystal Ball, 3D printing technology was employed to build a similar highly segmented icosahedron that can hold each LED, creating a 3D representation of what photons see during experiments. The LEDs were controlled via Arduino microcontroller. Finally, we implemented the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System to grab live event data, and a simple program converts this data in to color and crystal number data that is able to communicate with the Arduino. Using these simple parts, we can better visualize and understand the tools used in nuclear physics. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Grant No. IIA-1358175.

Biological warfare agents are a group of pathogens and toxins of biological origin that can be potentially misused for military or criminal purposes. The present review attempts to summarize necessary knowledge about biological warfare agents. The historical aspects, examples of applications of these agents such as anthrax letters, biological weapons impact, a summary of biological warfare agents and epidemiology of infections are described. The last section tries to estimate future trends in research on biological warfare agents.

以应用物理学及数学对称性原理为基础，晶体学是一门典型的多学科综合交叉学科。2014年是德国物理学家劳厄(von Laue)因为首次进行X射线穿过矿物晶体得到衍射现象的实验从而荣获1914年诺贝尔物理学奖一百周年纪念，也是联合国教科文组织将2014年确定为“国际晶体学年”的一年。文章简要地回顾了X射线晶体学发展壮大的百年历史，重点展望了结构生物学中最为重要的分支--蛋白质晶体学的发展及前景。特别介绍了中国近年来蛋白质晶体学的快速发展及其在世界上的崛起。最后，以作者所在实验室的一个结构生物学研究课题--Caspase-6的结构与功能研究为例，较为详细地介绍和阐明了蛋白质晶体学在结构生物学研究中的一些实验细节、可能遇到的困难及研究思路，指出了物理学原理及原子水平的动力学性质在进一步阐明蛋白质结构与功能研究中的重要性。%Crystallography is a typical intellectual endeavor that has spanned human histo-ry for centuries. Through the persistent efforts of generations of scientists, crystallography has been transformed from a mathematical hypothesis to actual physical reality, mainly thanks to X-ray diffraction technology. 2014 is celebrated as the International Year of Crystallography (IYCr-2014), to commemorate that about 100 years ago, when Max von Laue in Germany and the father-and-son Braggs(William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg) in England pioneered the use of X-rays to determine the atomic structure of crystals; for this pioneering work they were awarded Nobel prizes for physics in the years of 1914 and 1915. This article is dedicated to the IYCr to de-scribe the use of protein crystals, an application that has developed into protein crystallography and subsequently structural biology. In our overview of the history and future prospects of this field, we discuss in detail one example

Isolation of biological or chemical organisms can be accomplished using a surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) system. The SERS system can be a single or a stacked plurality of photonic crystal membranes with noble-metal lined through pores for flowing analyte potentially containing the biological or chemical organisms. The through pores can be adapted to trap individual biological or chemical organisms and emit SERS spectra, which can then be detected by a detector and further analyzed for viability of the biological or chemical organism.

Flexible organic materials possessing useful electrical properties, such as ferroelectricity, are of crucial importance in the engineering of electronic devices. Up until now, however, only ferroelectric polymers have intrinsically met this flexibility requirement, leaving small-molecule organic ferroelectrics with room for improvement. Since both flexibility and ferroelectricity are rare properties on their own, combining them in one crystalline organic material is challenging. Herein, we report that trisubstituted haloimidazoles not only display ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity--the properties that originate from their non-centrosymmetric crystal lattice--but also lend their crystalline mechanical properties to fine-tuning in a controllable manner by disrupting the weak halogen bonds between the molecules. This element of control makes it possible to deliver another unique and highly desirable property, namely crystal flexibility. Moreover, the electrical properties are maintained in the flexible crystals.

Flexible organic materials possessing useful electrical properties, such as ferroelectricity, are of crucial importance in the engineering of electronic devices. Up until now, however, only ferroelectric polymers have intrinsically met this flexibility requirement, leaving small-molecule organic ferroelectrics with room for improvement. Since both flexibility and ferroelectricity are rare properties on their own, combining them in one crystalline organic material is challenging. Herein, we report that trisubstituted haloimidazoles not only display ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity—the properties that originate from their non-centrosymmetric crystal lattice—but also lend their crystalline mechanical properties to fine-tuning in a controllable manner by disrupting the weak halogen bonds between the molecules. This element of control makes it possible to deliver another unique and highly desirable property, namely crystal flexibility. Moreover, the electrical properties are maintained in the flexible crystals. PMID:27734829

A systematic approach to the production of frequency conversion crystals is described in which a chiral molecule has attached to it a "harmonic generating unit" which contributes to the noncentrosymmetry of the molecule. Certain preferred embodiments of such harmonic generating units include carboxylate, guanadyly and imidazolyl units. Certain preferred crystals include L-arginine fluoride, deuterated L-arginine fluoride, L-arginine chloride monohydrate, L-arginine acetate, dithallium tartrate, ammonium N-acetyl valine, N-acetyl tyrosine and N-acetyl hydroxyproline. Chemical modifications of the chiral molecule, such as deuteration, halogenation and controlled counterion substitution are available to adapt the dispersive properties of a crystal in a particular wavelength region.

The microchip lasers, being very compact and efficient sources of coherent light, suffer from one serious drawback: low spatial quality of the beam strongly reducing the brightness of emitted radiation. Attempts to improve the beam quality, such as pump-beam guiding, external feedback, either strongly reduce the emission power, or drastically increase the size and complexity of the lasers. Here it is proposed that specially designed photonic crystal in the cavity of a microchip laser, can significantly improve the beam quality. Experiments show that a microchip laser, due to spatial filtering functionality of intracavity photonic crystal, improves the beam quality factor M2 reducing it by a factor of 2, and increase the brightness of radiation by a factor of 3. This comprises a new kind of laser, the “photonic crystal microchip laser”, a very compact and efficient light source emitting high spatial quality high brightness radiation.

Photonic crystal fibres represent one of the most active research areas today in the field of optics. The diversity of applications that may be addressed by these fibres and their fundamental appeal, by opening up the possibility of guiding light in a radically new way compared to conventional...... optical fibres, have spun an interest from almost all areas of optics and photonics. The aim of this book is to provide an understanding of the different types of photonic crystal fibres and to outline some of the many new and exciting applications that these fibres offer. The book is intended for both...... readers with a general interest in photonic crystals, as well as for scientists who are entering the field and desire a broad overview as well as a solid starting point for further specialized stuides. Teh book, therefore, covers bothe general aspects such as the link from classical optics to photonic...

Photonic crystal fibres represent one of the most active research areas today in the field of optics. The diversity of applications that may be addressed by these fibres and their fundamental appeal, by opening up the possibility of guiding light in a radically new way compared to conventional...... optical fibres, have spun an interest from almost all areas of optics and photonics. The aim of this book is to provide an understanding of the different types of photonic crystal fibres and to outline some of the many new and exciting applications that these fibres offer. The book is intended for both...... readers with a general interest in photonic crystals, as well as for scientists who are entering the field and desire a broad overview as well as a solid starting point for further specialized stuides. Teh book, therefore, covers bothe general aspects such as the link from classical optics to photonic...

Hydrochlorothiazide (HCT), C7H8ClN3O4S2, is a diuretic BCS (Biopharmaceutics Classification System) class IV drug which has primary and secondary sulfonamide groups. To modify the aqueous solubility of the drug, co-crystals with biologically safe co-formers were screened. Multi-component molecular crystals of HCT were prepared with nicotinic acid, nicotinamide, succinamide, p-aminobenzoic acid, resorcinol and pyrogallol using liquid-assisted grinding. The co-crystals were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and differential scanning calorimetry. Single crystal structures were obtained for four of them. The N-H...O sulfonamide catemer synthons found in the stable polymorph of pure HCT are replaced in the co-crystals by drug-co-former heterosynthons. Isostructural co-crystals with nicotinic acid and nicotinamide are devoid of the common sulfonamide dimer/catemer synthons. Solubility and stability experiments were carried out for the co-crystals in water (neutral pH) under ambient conditions. Among the six binary systems, the co-crystal with p-aminobenzoic acid showed a sixfold increase in solubility compared with pure HCT, and stability up to 24 h in an aqueous medium. The co-crystals with nicotinamide, resorcinol and pyrogallol showed only a 1.5-2-fold increase in solubility and transformed to HCT within 1 h of the dissolution experiment. An inverse correlation is observed between the melting points of the co-crystals and their solubilities.

The visionary work of Veselago had inspired intensive research efforts over the last decade, towards the realization of man-made structures with unprecedented electromagnetic (EM) properties. These structures, known as metamaterials, are typically periodic metallic-based resonant structures demonstrating effective constitutive parameters beyond the possibilities of natural material. For example they can exhibit optical magnetism or simultaneously negative effective permeability and permittivity which implies the existence of a negative refractive index. However, also periodic dielectric and polar material, known as photonic crystals, can exhibit EM capabilities beyond natural materials. This paper reviews the conditions and manifestations of metamaterial capabilities of photonic crystal systems.

Full Text Available Several nitrogen-rich salts of 3-nitramino-4-nitrofurazane and dinitraminoazoxyfurazane were synthesized and characterized by various spectroscopic methods. The crystal structures were determined by low temperature single crystal X-ray diffraction. Moreover the sensitivities toward thermal and mechanical stimuli were determined by differential thermal analysis (DTA and BAM (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung methods. The standard enthalpies of formation were calculated for all compounds at the CBS-4M level of theory, and the energetic performance was predicted with the EXPLO5 V6.02 computer code.

Liquid crystals are partially ordered systems without a rigid, long-range structure. The study of these materials covers a wide area: chemical structure, physical properties and technical applications. Due to their dual nature - anisotropic physical properties of solids and rheological behavior of liquids - and easy response to externally applied electric, magnetic, optical and surface fields liquid crystals are of greatest potential for scientific and technological applications. The subject has come of age and has achieved the status of being a very exciting interdisciplinary field of scienti

Cirrus crystal terminal velocities are of primary importance in determining the rate of transport of condensate from upper- to middle-tropospheric levels and profoundly influence the earth's radiation balance through their effect on the rate of buildup or decay of cirrus clouds. In this study, laboratory and field-based cirrus crystal drag coefficient data, as well as analytical descriptions of cirrus crystal shapes, are used to derive more physically based expressions for the velocities of cirrus crystals than have been available in the past.Polycrystals-often bullet rosettes-are shown to be the dominant crystal types in synoptically generated cirrus, with columns present in varying but relatively large percentages, depending on the cloud. The two critical parameters needed to calculate terminal velocity are the drag coefficient and the ratio of mass to cross-sectional area normal to their fall direction. Using measurements and calculations, it is shown that drag coefficients from theory and laboratory studies are applicable to crystals of the types found in cirrus. The ratio of the mass to area, which is shown to be relatively independent of the number of bullets in the rosette, is derived from an analytic model that represents bullet rosettes containing one to eight bullets in 19 primary geometric configurations. The ratio is also derived for columns. Using this information, a general set of equations is developed to calculate the terminal velocities and masses in terms of the aspect ratio (width divided by length), ice density, and rosette maximum dimension. Simple expressions for terminal velocity and mass as a function of bullet rosette maximum dimension are developed by incorporating new information on bullet aspect ratios.The general terminal velocity and mass relations are then applied to a case from the First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Research Experiment (FIRE) 2, when size spectra from a balloon-borne ice crystal

Full Text Available Liquid crystals, compounds and mixtures with positive dielectric anisotropies are reviewed. The mesogenic properties and physical chemical properties (viscosity, birefringence, refractive indices, dielectric anisotropy and elastic constants of compounds being cyano, fluoro, isothiocyanato derivatives of biphenyl, terphenyl, quaterphenyl, tolane, phenyl tolane, phenyl ethynyl tolane, and biphenyl tolane are compared. The question of how to obtain liquid crystal with a broad range of nematic phases is discussed in detail. Influence of lateral substituent of different kinds of mesogenic and physicochemical properties is presented (demonstrated. Examples of mixtures with birefringence ∆n in the range of 0.2–0.5 are given.

Three-dimensional crystals have been self-assembled from a DNA tensegrity triangle via sticky end interaction. The tensegrity triangle is a rigid DNA motif containing three double helical edges connected pair-wise by three four-arm junctions. The symmetric triangle contains 3 unique strands combined in a 3:3:1 ratio: 3 crossover, 3 helical and 1 central. The length of the sticky end reported previously was two nucleotides (nt) (GA:TC) and the motif with 2-helical turns of DNA per edge diffracted to 4.9 A at beam line NSLS-X25 and to 4 A at beam line ID19 at APS. The purpose of these self-assembled DNA crystals is that they can be used as a framework for hosting external guests for use in crystallographic structure solving or the periodic positioning of molecules for nanoelectronics. This thesis describes strategies to improve the resolution and to incorporate guests into the 3D lattice. The first chapter describes the effect of varying sticky end lengths and the influence of 5'-phosphate addition on crystal formation and resolution. X-ray diffraction data from beam line NSLS-X25 revealed that the crystal resolution for 1-nt (G:C) sticky end was 3.4 A. Motifs with every possible combination of 1-nt and 2-nt sticky-ended phosphorylated strands were crystallized and X-ray data were collected. The position of the 5'-phosphate on either the crossover (strand 1), helical (strand 2), or central strand (3) had an impact on the resolution of the self-assembled crystals with the 1-nt 1P-2-3 system diffracting to 2.62 A at APS and 3.1 A at NSLS-X25. The second chapter describes the sequence-specific recognition of DNA motifs with triplex-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs). This study examined the feasibility of using TFOs to bind to specific locations within a 3-turn DNA tensegrity triangle motif. The TFO 5'-TTCTTTCTTCTCT was used to target the tensegrity motif containing an appropriately embedded oligopurine.oligopyrimidine binding site. As triplex formation involving cytidine

Nano- and submicron-sized crystals are too small to contain inclusions and are, therefore, expected to have a higher internal quality compared to conventionally sized particles (several tens to hundreds of microns). Using electrospray crystallization, nano- and submicron-sized crystals can be easily

A system for bioconversion of organic material comprises a primary bioreactor column wherein a biological active agent (zymomonas mobilis) converts the organic material (sugar) to a product (alcohol), a rejuvenator column wherein the biological activity of said biological active agent is enhanced, and means for circulating said biological active agent between said primary bioreactor column and said rejuvenator column.

Organisms have evolved a broad array of complex signaling mechanisms that allow them to survive in a wide range of environmental conditions. They are able to sense external inputs and produce an output response by computing the information. Synthetic biology attempts to rationally engineer biological systems in order to perform desired functions. Our increasing understanding of biological systems guides this rational design, while the huge background in electronics for building circuits defines the methodology. In this context, biocomputation is the branch of synthetic biology aimed at implementing artificial computational devices using engineered biological motifs as building blocks. Biocomputational devices are defined as biological systems that are able to integrate inputs and return outputs following pre-determined rules. Over the last decade the number of available synthetic engineered devices has increased exponentially; simple and complex circuits have been built in bacteria, yeast and mammalian cells. These devices can manage and store information, take decisions based on past and present inputs, and even convert a transient signal into a sustained response. The field is experiencing a fast growth and every day it is easier to implement more complex biological functions. This is mainly due to advances in in vitro DNA synthesis, new genome editing tools, novel molecular cloning techniques, continuously growing part libraries as well as other technological advances. This allows that digital computation can now be engineered and implemented in biological systems. Simple logic gates can be implemented and connected to perform novel desired functions or to better understand and redesign biological processes. Synthetic biological digital circuits could lead to new therapeutic approaches, as well as new and efficient ways to produce complex molecules such as antibiotics, bioplastics or biofuels. Biological computation not only provides possible biomedical and

Typically, findings from cell biology have been beneficial for preventing human disease. However, translational applications from cell biology can also be applied to conservation efforts, such as protecting coral reefs. Recent efforts to understand the cell biological mechanisms maintaining coral health such as innate immunity and acclimatization have prompted new developments in conservation. Similar to biomedicine, we urge that future efforts should focus on better frameworks for biomarker development to protect coral reefs.

Full Text Available This special issue of "Condensed Matter Physics" focuses on the most recent developments in the study of a fascinating soft matter system, representing colloidal particles in a liquid crystalline environment. Furthermore, some articles address pioneering steps in the discovery of liquid crystals going back to 1861 paper by Julius Planer.

The A2 collaboration of the Institute for Nuclear Physics of Johannes Gutenberg University performs research on (multiple) meson photoproduction and nucleon structure and dynamics using a high energy polarized photon beam at specific targets. Particles scattered from the target are detected in the Crystal Ball, or CB. The CB is composed of 672 NaI crystals that surround the target and can analyze particle type and energy of ejected particles. Our project was to create a replica of the CB that could display what was happening in real time on a 3 Dimensional scale replica. Our replica was constructed to help explain the physics to the general public, be used as a tool when calibrating each of the 672 NaI crystals, and to better analyze the electron showering of particles coming from the target. This poster will focus on the hardware steps necessary to construct the replica and wire the 672 programmable LEDS in such a way that they can be mapped to correspond to the Crystal Ball elements. George Washington NSF Grant.

This September 19, 2016 letter from EPA approves the petition from Poet Biorefining-Lake Crystal, regarding non-grandfathered ethanol produced through a dry mill process, qualifying under the Clean Air Act for renewable fuel (D-code 6) RINs under the RFS

In past issues of this journal, the late H. R. Crane wrote a long series of articles under the running title of "How Things Work." In them, Dick dealt with many questions that physics teachers asked themselves, but did not have the time to answer. This article is my attempt to work through the physics of the crystal set, which I thought…

To avoid a tedious task for recording temperature, a computer was used for calculating the heat of crystallization for the compound sodium thiosulfate. Described are the computer-interfacing procedures. Provides pictures of laboratory equipment and typical graphs from experiments. (YP)

The measurement of the energy of electrons and photons with very high accuracy is of primary importance far the study of many physics processes at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), in particular for the search of the Higgs Boson. The CMS experiment will use a crystal calorimeter with pointing geometry, almost covering 4p, as it offers a very good energy resolution. It is divided into a barrel composed of 61200 lead tungstate crystals, two end-caps with 14648 crystals and a pre-shower detector in front of the end-cap. The challenges of the calorimeter design arise from the high radiation environment, the 4 Tesla magnetic eld, the high bunch crossing rate of 40 MHz and the large dynamic range, requiring the development of fast, radiation hard crystals, photo-detectors and readout electronics. An overview of the construction and design of the calorimeter will be presented, with emphasis on some of the details required to meet the demanding performance goals. 19 Refs.

In past issues of this journal, the late H. R. Crane wrote a long series of articles under the running title of "How Things Work." In them, Dick dealt with many questions that physics teachers asked themselves, but did not have the time to answer. This article is my attempt to work through the physics of the crystal set, which I thought…

Although calculating X-ray diffraction patterns from atomic coordinates of a crystal structure is a widely available capability, calculation from non-periodic arrays of atoms has not been widely applied to cellulose. Non-periodic arrays result from modeling studies that, even though started with at...

A model suitable for simulating lyotropic polymer liquid crystals (PLCs) is described. By varying the persistence length between infinity and 25, the effect of increasing flexibility on the nematic - smectic transition of a PLC with a length-to-width ratio L/D = 6 is investigated. It is found that

The invention contemplates apparatuses for recognition of proteins and other biological molecules by imaging morphology, size and distribution of crystalline and amorphous dry residues in droplets (further referred to as "crystallization patterns") containing predetermined amount of certain crystal-forming organic compounds (reporters) to which protein to be analyzed is added. Changes in the crystallization patterns of a number of amino-acids can be used as a "signature" of a protein added. Also, changes in the crystallization patterns, as well as the character of such changes, can be used as recognition elements in analysis of protein molecules.

To obtain protein crystals, researchers must search for conditions in multidimensional chemical space. Empirically, thousands of crystallization experiments are carried out to screen various precipitants at multiple concentrations. Microfluidics can manipulate fluids on a nanoliter scale, and it affects crystallization twofold. First, it miniaturizes the experiments that can currently be done on a larger scale and enables crystallization of proteins that are available only in small amounts. Second, it offers unique experimental approaches that are difficult or impossible to implement on a larger scale. Ongoing development of microfluidic techniques and their integration with protein production, characterization, and in situ diffraction promises to accelerate the progress of structural biology.

There is a critical need for improving the level of chemistry awareness in systems biology. The data and information related to modulation of genes and proteins by small molecules continue to accumulate at the same time as simulation tools in systems biology and whole body physiologically-based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) continue to evolve. We called this emerging area at the interface between chemical biology and systems biology systems chemical biology, SCB (Oprea et al., 2007).

Photonic crystal,a novel and artificial photonic material with periodic dielectric distribution,possesses photonic bandgap and can control the propagation states of photons.Photonic crystal has been considered to be a promising candidate for the future integrated photonic devices.The properties and the fabrication method of photonic crystal are expounded.The progresses of the study of ultrafast photonic crystal optical switching are discussed in detail.

Aspiration of inflamed periarticular tissues in seven patients suspected of having gout on clinical examination revealed positively birefringent calcium pyrophosphate crystals. The identification of calcium pyrophosphate crystals within articular structures and in the surrounding soft tissues and radiologic findings of chondrocalcinosis, in the absence of identifiable uric acid crystals, emphasize the importance of crystal identification in all cases of probable gout and stress the diagnostic role of soft-tissue aspiration in cases of soft-tissue inflammation, especially when arthrocentesis is unsuccessful.

Recent studies have revealed that the majority of biological processes are controlled by noncoding RNAs. Among many classes of noncoding RNAs, metabolite-sensing segments of mRNAs called riboswitches are unique. Discovered over a decade ago in all three kingdoms of life, riboswitches specifically and directly interact with various metabolites and regulate expression of multiple genes, often associated with metabolism and transport of small molecules. Thus, riboswitches do not depend on proteins for binding to small molecules and play a role as both metabolite sensors and effectors of gene control. Riboswitches are typically located in the untranslated regions of mRNAs where they form alternative structures in the presence and absence of the ligand and modulate expression of genes through the formation of regulatory elements. To understand the mechanism of the riboswitch-driven gene control, it is important to elucidate how riboswitches interact with cognate and discriminate against non-cognate ligands. Here we outline the methodology to synthesize riboswitch RNAs and prepare riboswitch-ligand complexes for crystallographic and biochemical studies. The chapter describes how to design, prepare, and conduct crystallization screening of riboswitch-ligand complexes. The methodology was refined on crystallographic studies of several riboswitches and can be employed for other types of RNA molecules.

Hollow core photonic crystal fiber (HCPCF) employs a guiding mechanism fundamentally different from that in conventional index guiding fibers. In an HCPCF, periodic air channels in a glass matrix act as reflectors to confine light in an empty core. As a result, the interaction between light and glass can be very small. Therefore, HCPCF has been used in applications that require extremely low non-linearity, high breakdown threshold, and zero dispersion. However, their applications in optical sensing, especially in chemical and biological sensing, have only been extensively explored recently. Besides their well-recognized optical properties the hollow cores of the fibers can be easily filled with liquid or gas, providing an ideal sampling mechanism in sensors. Recently, we have demonstrated that by filling up a HCPCF with gas or liquid samples, it is possible to significantly increase the sensitivity of the sensors in either regular Raman or surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) applications. This is because the confinement of both light and sample inside the hollow core enables direct interaction between the propagating wave and the analyte. In this paper, we report our recent work on using HCPCF as a platform for Raman or SERS in the detection of low concentration greenhouse gas (ambient CO2), biomedically significant molecules (e.g., glucose), and bacteria. We have demonstrated that by filling up a HCPCF with gas or liquid samples, it is possible to significantly increase the sensitivity of the sensors in either regular Raman or SERS applications.

We present optimization of photonic crystal cavities. The optimization problem is formulated to maximize the Purcell factor of a photonic crystal cavity. Both topology optimization and air-hole-based shape optimization are utilized for the design process. Numerical results demonstrate...... that the Purcell factor of the photonic crystal cavity can be significantly improved through optimization....

Strong correlation effects in classical and quantum plasmas are discussed. In particular, Coulomb (Wigner) crystallization phenomena are reviewed focusing on one-component non-neutral plasmas in traps and on macroscopic two-component neutral plasmas. The conditions for crystal formation in terms of critical values of the coupling parameters and the distance fluctuations and the phase diagram of Coulomb crystals are discussed.

The surface properties of Beta-HMX crystals were studied. The surface energies of three principal crystal faces were obtained by measuring contact angles with several reference liquids. The surface energies and polarity of the three crystal faces are found to be different.

of plane crystal plasticity are studied: pure shear of a single crystal between rigid platens as well as plastic deformation around cylindrical voids in hexagonal close packed and face centered cubic crystals. Effective in-plane constitutive slip parameters for plane strain deformation of specifically...

Part of the challenge of macromolecular crystal growth for structure determination is obtaining an appropriate number of crystals with a crystal volume suitable for X-ray analysis. In this respect an understanding of the effect of solution conditions on macromolecule nucleation rates is advantageous. This study investigated the effects of solution conditions on the nucleation rate and final crystal size of two crystal systems; tetragonal lysozyme and glucose isomerase. Batch crystallization plates were prepared at given solution concentration and incubated at set temperatures over one week. The number of crystals per well with their size and axial ratios were recorded and correlated with solution conditions. Duplicate experiments indicate the reproducibility of the technique. Results for each system showing the effect of supersaturation, incubation temperature and solution pH on nucleation rates will be presented and discussed. In the case of lysozyme, having optimized solution conditions to produce an appropriate number of crystals of a suitable size, a batch of crystals were prepared under exactly the same conditions. Fifty of these crystals were analyzed by x-ray techniques. The results indicate that even under the same crystallization conditions, a marked variation in crystal properties exists.

The enantioselective formation of chiral crystal of achiral nucleobase cytosine was achieved mediated by the crystal direction selective dehydration of crystal water in the achiral crystal of cytosine monohydrate (P21/c). Heat transfer from the enantiotopic face of the single crystal of cytosine monohydrate afforded the enantiomorphous crystal of anhydrous cytosine.

The crystallization of protein samples remains the most significant challenge in structure determination by X-ray crystallography. Here, the effectiveness of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis to aid in the crystallization of biological macromolecules is demonstrated. It was found that the presence of well ordered lattices with higher order Bragg spots, revealed by Fourier analysis of TEM images, is a good predictor of diffraction-quality crystals. Moreover, the use of TEM allowed (i) comparison of lattice quality among crystals from different conditions in crystallization screens; (ii) the detection of crystal pathologies that could contribute to poor X-ray diffraction, including crystal lattice defects, anisotropic diffraction and crystal contamination by heavy protein aggregates and nanocrystal nuclei; (iii) the qualitative estimation of crystal solvent content to explore the effect of lattice dehydration on diffraction and (iv) the selection of high-quality crystal fragments for microseeding experiments to generate reproducibly larger sized crystals. Applications to X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) and micro-electron diffraction (microED) experiments are also discussed.

Random microseed matrix screening (rMMS), in which seed crystals are added to random crystallization screens, is an important breakthrough in soluble protein crystallization that increases the number of crystallization hits that are available for optimization. This greatly increases the number of soluble protein structures generated every year by typical structural biology laboratories. Inspired by this success, rMMS has been adapted to the crystallization of membrane proteins, making LCP seed stock by scaling up LCP crystallization conditions without changing the physical and chemical parameters that are critical for crystallization. Seed crystals are grown directly in LCP and, as with conventional rMMS, a seeding experiment is combined with an additive experiment. The new method was used with the bacterial integral membrane protein OmpF, and it was found that it increased the number of crystallization hits by almost an order of magnitude: without microseeding one new hit was found, whereas with LCP-rMMS eight new hits were found. It is anticipated that this new method will lead to better diffracting crystals of membrane proteins. A method of generating seed gradients, which allows the LCP seed stock to be diluted and the number of crystals in each LCP bolus to be reduced, if required for optimization, is also demonstrated.

Liquid crystals have a long history of use as materials that respond to external stimuli (e.g., electrical and optical fields). More recently, a series of investigations have reported the design of liquid crystalline materials that undergo ordering transitions in response to a range of biological interactions, including interactions involving proteins, nucleic acids, viruses, bacteria and mammalian cells. A central challenge underlying the design of liquid crystalline materials for such applications is the tailoring of the interface of the materials so as to couple targeted biological interactions to ordering transitions. This review describes recent progress toward design of interfaces of liquid crystalline materials that are suitable for biological applications. Approaches addressed in this review include the use of lipid assemblies, polymeric membranes containing oligopeptides, cationic surfactant-DNA complexes, peptide-amphiphiles, interfacial protein assemblies and multi-layer polymeric films.

The biologically induced precipitation processes can be important in wastewater treatment, in particular treating raw wastewater with high calcium concentration combined with Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal. Currently, there is little information and experience in modelling jointly biological and chemical processes. This paper presents a calcium phosphate precipitation model and its inclusion in the Activated Sludge Model No 2d (ASM2d). The proposed precipitation model considers that aqueous phase reactions quickly achieve the chemical equilibrium and that aqueous-solid change is kinetically governed. The model was calibrated using data from four experiments in a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) operated for EBPR and finally validated with two experiments. The precipitation model proposed was able to reproduce the dynamics of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) formation and later crystallization to hydroxyapatite (HAP) under different scenarios. The model successfully characterised the EBPR performance of the SBR, including the biological, physical and chemical processes.

During the past two decades, many materials chemists have focused on the development of organic molecules that can serve as the basis of cost-effective and flexible electronic, optical, and energy conversion devices. Among the potential candidate molecules, metal-free or metal-containing conjugated organic molecules offer high-order electronic conjugation levels that can directly support fast charge carrier transport, rapid optoelectric responses, and reliable exciton manipulation. Early studies of these molecules focused on the design and synthesis of organic unit molecules that exhibit active electrical and optical properties when produced in the form of thin film devices. Since then, researchers have worked to enhance the properties upon crystallization of the unit molecules as single crystals provide higher carrier mobilities and exciton recombination yields. Most recently, researchers have conducted in-depth studies to understand how crystallization induces property changes, especially those that depend on specific crystal surfaces. The different properties that depend on the crystal facets have been of particular interest. Most unit molecules have anisotropic structures, and therefore produce crystals with several unique crystal facets with dissimilar molecular arrangements. These structural differences would also lead to diverse electrical conductance, optical absorption/emission, and even chemical interaction properties depending on the crystal facet investigated. To study the effects of crystallization and crystal facet-dependent property changes, researchers must grow or synthesize crystals of highly conjugated molecules that have both a variety of morphologies and high crystallinity. Morphologically well-defined organic crystals, that form structures such as wires, rods, disks, and cubes, provide objects that researchers can use to evaluate these material properties. Such structures typically occur as single crystals with well-developed facets with

Full Text Available Taxol is a potent anti-mitotic drug used in chemotherapy, angioplastic stents, and cell biology research. By binding and stabilizing microtubules, Taxol inhibits their dynamics, crucial for cell division, motility, and survival. The drug has also been reported to induce formation of asters and bundles composed of stabilized microtubules. Surprisingly, at commonly used concentrations, Taxol forms crystals that rapidly bind fluorescent tubulin subunits, generating structures with an uncanny resemblance to microtubule asters and bundles. Kinetic and topological considerations suggest that tubulin subunits, rather than microtubules, bind the crystals. This sequestration of tubulin from the subunit pool would be expected to shift the equilibrium of free to polymerized tubulin to disfavor assembly. Our results imply that some previously reported Taxol-induced asters or bundles could include or be composed of tubulin-decorated Taxol crystals. Thus, reevaluation of certain morphological, chemical, and physical properties of Taxol-treated microtubules may be necessary. Moreover, our findings suggest a novel mechanism for chemotherapy-induced cytotoxicity in non-dividing cells, with far-reaching medical implications.

In the post-genomic era, X-ray crystallography has emerged as the workhorse of large-scale structural biology initiatives that seek to understand protein function and interaction at the atomic scale. Despite impressive technological advances in X-ray sources, phasing techniques, and computing power, the determination of protein structure continues to be severely hampered by the difficulties in obtaining high-quality protein crystals. Emergent technologies utilizing microfluidics now have the potential to solve these problems on several levels. We will present two microfluidic devices that have been shown to dramatically improve protein crystallization. The first is a formulation device which allows for the rapid combinatorial mixing of reagents to systematically explore protein solubility behavior. A priori solubility mapping allows for the rational design of optimal crystallization screens that are tailored to a specific target. A second screening device allows for massively parallel sample processing while exploiting the properties of mass transport manifest at the micron scale to ensure slow and efficient mixing kinetics that are difficult to achieve in macroscopic reactors.

One easy strategy to comprehend the complex folding/crystallization behaviors of proteins is to study the self-assembly process of their synthetic polymeric analogues with similar properties owing to their simple structures and easy access to molecular design. Poly(2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline) (PIPOZ) is often regarded as an ideal pseudopeptide with similar two-step crystallization behavior to proteins, whose aqueous solution experiences successive lower critical solution temperature (LCST)-type liquid-liquid phase separation upon heating and irreversible crystallization when annealed above LCST for several hours. In this paper, by microscopic observations, IR and Raman spectroscopy in combination with 2D correlation analysis, we show that the second step of PIPOZ crystallization in hot water can be further divided into two apparent stages, i.e., nucleation and crystal growth, and perfect crystalline PIPOZ chains are found to only develop in the second stage. While all the groups exhibit changes in initial nucleation, only methylene groups on the backbone participate in the crystal growth stage. During nucleation, a group motion transfer is found from the side chain to the backbone, and nucleation is assumed to be mainly driven by the cleavage of bridging C=O···D-O-D···O=C hydrogen bonds followed by chain arrangement due to amide dipolar orientation. Nevertheless, during crystal growth, a further chain ordering process occurs resulting in the final formation of crystalline PIPOZ chains with partial trans conformation of backbones and alternative side chains on the two sides. The underlying crystallization mechanism of PIPOZ in hot water we present here may provide very useful information for understanding the crystallization of biomacromolecules in biological systems.

Larger crystals of higher quality grown. Alternative method for starting growth of crystal involves use of seed crystal of different material instead of same material as solution. Intended for growing single-crystal proteins for experiments but applicable in general to growth of crystals from solutions and to growth of semiconductor or other crystals from melts.

@@ In order to study the relationship between the manganese ion and the biological coordination agent, the role ofmanganese ion in the active sites and the structure of the active sites in the manganese enzymes, small molecule complexes are often applied to modeling the structure and the properties of reaction in the active centers. In this pa per, we will report the synthesis and crystal structure of a new manganese(Ⅱ) complex, catena[ aqua-(p-methoxybenzoato- O, O′ ) - (p-methoxybenzoato- O )- (2,2′-bipyridine)-manganese (Ⅱ) ] (p-methoxybenzoic acid). The crystal structure was confirmeded by X-ray crystallography analysis.

Banded spherulites of aspirin have been crystallized from the melt in the presence of salicylic acid either generated from aspirin decomposition or added deliberately (2.6-35.9 mol %). Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and optical polarimetry show that the spherulites are composed of helicoidal crystallites twisted along the growth directions. Mueller matrix imaging reveals radial oscillations in not only linear birefringence, but also circular birefringence, whose origin is explained through slight (∼1.3°) but systematic splaying of individual lamellae in the film. Strain associated with the replacement of aspirin molecules by salicylic acid molecules in the crystal structure is computed to be large enough to work as the driving force for the twisting of crystallites.

Despite the general recession in the global economy and the collapse of the optical telecommunication market, research within specialty fibers is thriving. This is, more than anything else, due to the technology transition from standard all-glass fibers to photonic crystal fibers, which, instead...... of doping, use a microstructure of air and glass to obtain a refractive index difference between the core and the cladding. This air/glass microstructure lends the photonic crystal fibers a range of unique and highly usable properties, which are very different from those found in solid standard fibers....... The freedom to design the dispersion profile of the fibers is much larger and it is possible to create fibers, which support only a single spatial mode, regardless of wavelength. In comparison, the standard dispersion-shifted fibers are limited by a much lower index-contrast between the core and the cladding...

, leading to reduced mode confinement and dispersion flexibility. In this thesis, we treat the nonlinear photonic crystal fiber – a special sub-class of photonic crystal fibers, the core of which has a diameter comparable to the wavelength of the light guided in the fiber. The small core results in a large...... nonlinear coefficient and in various applications, it is therefore possible to reduce the required fiber lengths quite dramatically, leading to increased stability and efficiency. Furthermore, it is possible to design these fibers with zero-dispersion at previously unreachable wavelengths, paving the way...... for completely new applications, especially in and near the visible wavelength region. One such application is supercontinuum generation. Supercontinuum generation is extreme broadening of pulses in a nonlinear medium (in this case a small-core fiber), and depending on the dispersion of the fiber, it is possible...

This book covers in-depth discussion of design principles, synthesis and thermal behavior of all types of liquid crystal (LC) dimers. The text presents recent advances in the field of LC dimers consisting of different mesogenic units such as calamitic, discotic and bent-core molecules. It starts with a chapter on the introduction of liquid crystal dimers, including their odd-even behavior, basic classification of dimers and common mesophases in dimers. The text shows how the molecular architectures are being used to develop new materials to study a range of interesting phenomena such as the biaxial nematic phase containing rod-like and disc-like mesogenic units. Finally, the text presents perspectives related to technological relevance of these dimers such as dopants in LC display mixtures exhibiting faster relaxation time, strong flexoelectric coupling and others to effect control over the properties of these materials.

This book brings together the many concepts and discoveries in liquid crystal colloids contributed over the last twenty years and scattered across numerous articles and book chapters. It provides both a historical overview of the development of the field and a clear perspective on the future applications in photonics. The book covers all phenomena observed in liquid crystal colloids with an emphasis on experimental tools and applications of topology in condensed matter, as well as practical micro-photonics applications. It includes a number of spectacular manifestations of new topological phenomena not found or difficult to observe in other systems. Starting from the early works on nematic colloids, it explains the basics of topological defects in ordered media, charge and winding, and the elastic forces between colloidal particles in nematics. Following a detailed description of experimental methods, such as optical tweezing and particle tracking, the book eases the reader into the theoretical part, which de...

Two decades ago, the literature dealing with the possible applications of low molar mass liquid crystals, also called monomer liquid crystals (MLCs), only included about 50 references. Today, thousands of papers, conference reports, books or book chapters and patents refer to the study and applications of MLCs as lubricants and lubricant additives and efforts are made to develop new commercial applications. The development of more efficient lubricants is of paramount technological and economic relevance as it is estimated that half the energy consumption is dissipated as friction. MLCs have shown their ability to form ordered boundary layers with good load-carrying capacity and to lower the friction coefficients, wear rates and contact temperature of sliding surfaces, thus contributing to increase the components service life and to save energy. This review includes the use of MLCs in lubrication, and dispersions of MLCs in conventional polymers (PDMLCs). Finally, new lubricating system composed of MLC blends with surfactants, ionic liquids or nanophases are considered.

A liquid crystal moving picture projector and method are described.Light incident on a liquid crystal display-type device is selectively scattered or transmitted by respective portions of liquid crystal display,and a projection mechanism projects an image formed by either such scattered light or such transmitted light.A liquid cystal moving picture projector includes a liquid crystal display for creating characteristics of an image,and projecttion optics for projecting images sequentially created by the display.The display includes a liquid crystal material capable of temporary storing information at respective areas.The temporary storage may be a function of charge storing directly on liquid crystal material.A method of projecting plural images in sequence includes:creating an image or characteristics of an image in a liquid crystal material,storing such image in such liquid crystal material,directing light at such liquid crystal material,projecting such image as a function of light transmitted through or scattered by such liquid crystal material,and creating a further image in such liquid crystal material for subsequent projection.

This book provides an in-depth analysis as well as an overview of phononic crystals. This book discusses numerous techniques for the analysis of phononic crystals and covers, among other material, sonic and ultrasonic structures, hypersonic planar structures and their characterization, and novel applications of phononic crystals. This is an ideal book for those working with micro and nanotechnology, MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), and acoustic devices. This book also: Presents an introduction to the fundamentals and properties of phononic crystals Covers simulation techniques for the analysis of phononic crystals Discusses sonic and ultrasonic, hypersonic and planar, and three-dimensional phononic crystal structures Illustrates how phononic crystal structures are being deployed in communication systems and sensing systems.

Interesting and significant developments have occurred in the last decade in both crystallization equipment and in the theory of crystallization process. In the field of technical crystallization new crystallizers have been developed and computer modelling has become important in scaling up and in the achievement of increased performance. The DP-Kristaller developed by Escher-Wyss-Tsukishima, the Brodie purifier, the sieve tray column having dancing balls, the automated multiple crystallization process due to Mützenberg and Saxer and the double belt cooler, all of which represent technical developments, are described in the first section. The second part of the paper reviews computer modelling of the fluidized bed crystallizer, chemical precipitation, flaking and prilling. Finally, there is a brief discussion of the impact of technical crystallization processes on environmental protection.

Formulation of hydrophobic drugs as amorphous materials is highly advantageous as this increases their solubility in water and therefore their bioavailability. However, many drugs have a high propensity to crystallize during production and storage, limiting the usefulness of amorphous drugs. We study the crystallization of undercooled liquid fenofibrate, a model hydrophobic drug. Nucleation is the rate-limiting step; once seeded with a fenofibrate crystal, the crystal rapidly grows by consuming the undercooled liquid fenofibrate. Crystal growth is limited by the incorporation of molecules into its surface. As nucleation and growth both entail incorporation of molecules into the surface, this process likely also limits the formation of nuclei and thus the crystallization of undercooled liquid fenofibrate, contributing to the good stability of undercooled liquid fenofibrate against crystallization.

The quasi-particle structure of the higher spin XXZ model is studied. We obtained a new description of crystals associated with the level $k$ integrable highest weight $U_q(\\widehat{sl_2})$ modules in terms of the creation operators at $q=0$ (the crystaline spinon basis). The fermionic character formulas and the Yangian structure of those integrable modules naturally follow from this description. We have also derived the conjectural formulas for the multi quasi-particle states at $q=0$.

After several decades pushing the technology and the development of the world, the electronics is giving space for technologies that use light. We propose and analyze an optical memory embedded in a nonlinear photonic crystal (PhC), whose system of writing and reading data is controlled by an external command signal. This optical memory is based on optical directional couplers connected to a shared optical ring. Such a device can work over the C-Band of ITU (International Telecommunication Union).

A unique compendium of knowledge on all aspects of the texture of liquid crystals, providing not just detailed information on texture formation and determination, but also an in-depth discussion of different characterization methods. Experts as well as graduates entering the field will find all the information they need in this handbook, while the magnitude of the color images make it valuable hands-on-reference.

This is a remarkable example of direct technology transfer from particle physics to medicine. Clinical trials have begun in Portugal on a new medical imaging system for the diagnosis of breast cancer, which uses positron emission tomography (PET). The system, developed by a Portuguese consortium in collaboration with CERN and laboratories participating in the Crystal Clear collaboration, will detect even the smallest tumours and thus help avoid unnecessary biopsies.

Photonic crystal surfaces can be designed to provide a wide range of functions that are used to perform biochemical and cell-based assays. Detection of the optical resonant reflections from photonic crystal surfaces enables high sensitivity label-free biosensing, while the enhanced electromagnetic fields that occur at resonant wavelengths can be used to enhance the detection sensitivity of any surface-based fluorescence assay. Fabrication of photonic crystals from inexpensive plastic materials over large surface areas enables them to be incorporated into standard formats that include microplates, microarrays, and microfluidic channels. This report reviews the design of photonic crystal biosensors, their associated detection instrumentation, and biological applications. Applications including small molecule high throughput screening, cell membrane integrin activation, gene expression analysis, and protein biomarker detection are highlighted. Recent results in which photonic crystal surfaces are used for enhancing the detection of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, and the development of high resolution photonic crystal-based laser biosensors are also described.

The diffraction from imperfect crystals and the applicability of kinematical theory are described. Most materials are crystalline because atoms and molecules tend to form ordered arrangements, and since the interatomic distances are comparable with the wavelength of X-rays, their interaction creates diffraction patterns. The intensity in these patterns changes with crystal quality. Perfect crystals, e.g. semiconductors, fit well to dynamical theory, whereas crystals that reveal the stereochemistry of complex biological molecules, the structure of organic and inorganic molecules and powders are required to be fragmented (termed ‘ideally imperfect’) to justify the use of the simpler kinematical theory. New experimental results of perfect and imperfect crystals are interpreted with a fundamental description of diffraction, which does not need fragmented crystals but just ubiquitous defects. The distribution of the intensity is modified and can influence the interpretation of the patterns.

The structural changes occurring at the nanoscale level within the lipid bilayer and driving the in-meso formation of large well-diffracting membrane protein crystals have been uniquely characterized for a model membrane protein, intimin. Importantly, the order to order transitions taking place within the bilayer and the lipidic nanostructures required for crystal growth have been shown to be general, occurring for both the cubic and the sponge mesophase crystallization pathways. For the first time, a transient fluid lamellar phase has been observed and unambiguously assigned for both crystallization pathways, present at the earliest stages of protein crystallogenesis but no longer observed once the crystals surpass the size of the average lyotropic liquid crystalline domain. The reported time-resolved structural investigation provides a significantly improved and general understanding of the nanostructural changes taking place within the mesophase during in-meso crystallization which is a fundamental advance in the enabling area of membrane protein structural biology.

We are using a Qpod quartz crystal microbalance (manufactured by Inficon) for use as a low-volume non-volatile residue analysis tool. Inficon has agreed to help troubleshoot some of our measurements and are requesting to view some sample data, which are attached. The basic principle of an NVR analysis is to evaporate a known volume of solvent, and weigh the remaining residue to determine the purity of the solvent. A typical NVR analysis uses 60 g of solvent and can measure residue with an accuracy of +/- 0.01 mg. The detection limit is thus (0.01 mg)/(60 g) = 0.17 ppm. We are attempting to use a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to make a similar measurement. The attached data show the response of the QCM as a 5-20 mg drop of solvent evaporates on its surface. The change in mass registered by the QCM after the drop evaporates is the residue that deposits on the crystal. On some measurements, the change in mass in less than zero, which is aphysical since the drop will leave behind {>=}0 mass of residue. The vendor, Inficon, has agreed to look at these data as a means to help troubleshoot the cause.

Cholesterol crystal embolism, known as atheroembolic disease, is caused by showers of cholesterol crystals from an atherosclerotic plaque that occludes small arteries. Embolization can occur spontaneously or as an iatrogenic complication from an invasive vascular procedure (angiography or vascular surgery) and after anticoagulant therapy. The atheroembolism can give rise to different degrees of renal impairment. Some patients show a moderate loss of renal function, others severe renal failure requiring dialysis. Renal outcome can be variable: some patients deteriorate or remain on dialysis, some improve and some remain with chronic renal impairment. Clinically, three types of atheroembolic renal disease have been described: acute, subacute or chronic. More frequently a progressive loss of renal function occurs over weeks. Atheroembolization can involve the skin, gastrointestinal system and central nervous system. The diagnosis is difficult and controversial for the protean extrarenal manifestations. In the past, the diagnosis was often made post-mortem. In the last 10 yrs, awareness of atheroembolic renal disease has improved. The correct diagnosis requires the clinician to be alert. The typical patient is a white male aged >60 yrs with a history of hypertension, smoking and arterial disease. The presence of a classic triad (precipitating event, renal failure and peripheral cholesterol crystal embolization) suggests the diagnosis. This can be confirmed by a biopsy of the target organs. A specific treatment is lacking; however, it is an important diagnosis to make because an aggressive therapeutic approach can be associated with a more favorable clinical outcome. PMID:21977265

Collective motion of self-propelled organisms or synthetic particles, often termed “active fluid,” has attracted enormous attention in the broad scientific community because of its fundamentally nonequilibrium nature. Energy input and interactions among the moving units and the medium lead to complex dynamics. Here, we introduce a class of active matter––living liquid crystals (LLCs)––that combines living swimming bacteria with a lyotropic liquid crystal. The physical properties of LLCs can be controlled by the amount of oxygen available to bacteria, by concentration of ingredients, or by temperature. Our studies reveal a wealth of intriguing dynamic phenomena, caused by the coupling between the activity-triggered flow and long-range orientational order of the medium. Among these are (i) nonlinear trajectories of bacterial motion guided by nonuniform director, (ii) local melting of the liquid crystal caused by the bacteria-produced shear flows, (iii) activity-triggered transition from a nonflowing uniform state into a flowing one-dimensional periodic pattern and its evolution into a turbulent array of topological defects, and (iv) birefringence-enabled visualization of microflow generated by the nanometers-thick bacterial flagella. Unlike their isotropic counterpart, the LLCs show collective dynamic effects at very low volume fraction of bacteria, on the order of 0.2%. Our work suggests an unorthodox design concept to control and manipulate the dynamic behavior of soft active matter and opens the door for potential biosensing and biomedical applications. PMID:24474746

and we examine the differences which occur for differing dielectric anisotropies. Finally, in Chapter 7 we study how a sample of smectic C liquid crystal behaves when it is subjected to a uniform shear flow within the smectic plane. We find travelling wave solutions for the behaviour of the c-director and adapt these solutions to incorporate the effects of an applied field. This thesis contains theoretical work dealing with the effects of magnetic and electric fields on samples of nematic, smectic A and smectic C liquid crystals. Some background material along with the continuum theory is introduced in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3 we consider the effect on the director within an infinite sample of nematic liquid crystal which is subjected to crossed electric and magnetic fields. In particular we examine the stability of the travelling waves which describe the director motion by considering the behaviour of the stable perturbations as time increases. The work of Chapter 4 examines a bounded sample of smectic A liqu...

This paper reports that an optical diagnostic system consisting of Maeh-Zehnder interferometer with a phase shift device and image processor has been used for study of the kinetics of protein crystal growing process. The crystallization process of protein crystal by vapour diffusion is investigated. The interference fringes are observed in real time. The present experiment demonstrates that the diffusion and the sedimentation influence the crystallization of protein crystal which grows in solution, and the concentration capillary convection associated with surface tension occurs at the vicinity of free surface of the protein mother liquor, and directly affects on the outcome of protein crystallization. So far the detailed analysis and the important role of the fluid phenomena in protein crystallization have been discussed a little in both space- and ground-based crystal growth experiments. It is also found that these fluid phenomena affect theoutcome of protein crystallization, regular growth, and crystal quality. This may explain the fact that many results of space-based investigation do not show overall improvement.

Drying and crystallization of a thin liquid film of an ionic or a similar solution can cause dewetting in the resulting thin solid film. This paper aims at investigating this type of dewetting, herein termed "crystallization dewetting", using PbI2 dissolved in organic solvents as the model solution. PbI2 solid films are usually used in X-ray detection and lead halide perovskite solar cells. In this work, PbI2 films are fabricated using spin coating and the effect of major parameters influencing the crystallization dewetting, including the type of the solvent, solution concentration, drying temperature, spin speed, as well as imposed vibration on the substrate are studied on dewetting, surface profile and coverage, using confocal scanning laser microscopy. Simplified hydrodynamic governing equations of crystallization in thin films are presented and using a mathematical representation of the process, it is phenomenologically demonstrated that crystallization dewetting occurs due to the absorption and consumption of the solution surrounding a growing crystal. Among the results, it is found that a low spin speed (high thickness), a high solution concentration and a low drying temperature promote crystal growth, and therefore crystallization dewetting. It is also shown that imposed vibration on the substrate can affect the crystal size and crystallization dewetting.

More than five decades have passed since the first single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments at high pressure were performed. These studies were applied historically to geochemical processes occurring in the Earth and other planets, but high-pressure crystallography has spread across different fields of science including chemistry, physics, biology, materials science and pharmacy. With each passing year, high-pressure studies have become more precise and comprehensive because of the development of instrumentation and software, and the systems investigated have also become more complicated. Starting with crystals of simple minerals and inorganic compounds, the interests of researchers have shifted to complicated metal-organic frameworks, aperiodic crystals and quasicrystals, molecular crystals, and even proteins and viruses. Inspired by contributions to the microsymposium 'High-Pressure Crystallography of Periodic and Aperiodic Crystals' presented at the 23rd IUCr Congress and General Assembly, the authors have tried to summarize certain recent results of single-crystal studies of molecular and aperiodic structures under high pressure. While the selected contributions do not cover the whole spectrum of high-pressure research, they demonstrate the broad diversity of novel and fascinating results and may awaken the reader's interest in this topic.

Full Text Available Mechanosensitive channels (MS are integral membrane proteins and allow bacteria to survive sudden changes in external osmolarity due to transient opening of their pores. The efflux of cytoplasmic osmolytes reduces the membrane tension and prevents membrane rupture. Therefore these channels serve as emergency valves when experiencing significant environmental stress. The preparation of high quality crystals of integral membrane proteins is a major bottleneck for structure determination by X-ray crystallography. Crystallization chaperones based on various protein scaffolds have emerged as promising tool to increase the crystallization probability of a selected target protein. So far archeal mechanosensitive channels of small conductance have resisted crystallization in our hands. To structurally analyse these channels, we selected nanobodies against an archeal MS channel after immunization of a llama with recombinant expressed, detergent solubilized and purified protein. Here we present the characterization of 23 different binders regarding their interaction with the channel protein using analytical gel filtration, western blotting and surface plasmon resonance. Selected nanobodies bound the target with affinities in the pico- to nanomolar range and some binders had a profound effect on the crystallization of the MS channel. Together with previous data we show that nanobodies are a versatile and valuable tool in structural biology by widening the crystallization space for highly challenging proteins, protein complexes and integral membrane proteins.

Full Text Available More than five decades have passed since the first single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments at high pressure were performed. These studies were applied historically to geochemical processes occurring in the Earth and other planets, but high-pressure crystallography has spread across different fields of science including chemistry, physics, biology, materials science and pharmacy. With each passing year, high-pressure studies have become more precise and comprehensive because of the development of instrumentation and software, and the systems investigated have also become more complicated. Starting with crystals of simple minerals and inorganic compounds, the interests of researchers have shifted to complicated metal–organic frameworks, aperiodic crystals and quasicrystals, molecular crystals, and even proteins and viruses. Inspired by contributions to the microsymposium `High-Pressure Crystallography of Periodic and Aperiodic Crystals' presented at the 23rd IUCr Congress and General Assembly, the authors have tried to summarize certain recent results of single-crystal studies of molecular and aperiodic structures under high pressure. While the selected contributions do not cover the whole spectrum of high-pressure research, they demonstrate the broad diversity of novel and fascinating results and may awaken the reader's interest in this topic.

To simulate the piezoelectric effect of nature bone, two kinds of biological piezoelectric composite ceramics consisted of hydroxyapatite ( HA ) and lithium sodium potassium riobate (LNK) ceramic of which the ratio of HA/ LNK was 1: 10 and 5:5( wt/ wt ) were prepared. Their piezoelectric property and growth of apatite crystal in the ceramics surface were investigated. With the increase of LNK amount, piezoelectric activity increased correspondingly. By immersing the poled piezoelectric ceramics in simulated body fluid (SBF) at 36.5 ℃ for 7,14, and 21 days, apatite crystal was formed on negatively charged surfaces. After 21 days immersion in SBF,the thickest apatite crystal on the negatively charged surfaces increased to 3.337μm. The novel biological piezoelectric ceramics show an excellent piezoelectric property and superior potential bioactivity.

It is well known that periodic discrete defect-containing systems, in addition to traveling waves, support vibrational defect-localized modes. It turned out that if a periodic discrete system is nonlinear, it can support spatially localized vibrational modes as exact solutions even in the absence of defects. Since the nodes of the system are all on equal footing, it is only through the special choice of initial conditions that a group of nodes can be found on which such a mode, called a discrete breather (DB), will be excited. The DB frequency must be outside the frequency range of the small-amplitude traveling waves. Not resonating with and expending no energy on the excitation of traveling waves, a DB can theoretically conserve its vibrational energy forever provided no thermal vibrations or other perturbations are present. Crystals are nonlinear discrete systems, and the discovery in them of DBs was only a matter of time. It is well known that periodic discrete defect-containing systems support both traveling waves and vibrational defect-localized modes. It turns out that if a periodic discrete system is nonlinear, it can support spatially localized vibrational modes as exact solutions even in the absence of defects. Because the nodes of the system are all on equal footing, only a special choice of the initial conditions allows selecting a group of nodes on which such a mode, called a discrete breather (DB), can be excited. The DB frequency must be outside the frequency range of small-amplitude traveling waves. Not resonating with and expending no energy on the excitation of traveling waves, a DB can theoretically preserve its vibrational energy forever if no thermal vibrations or other perturbations are present. Crystals are nonlinear discrete systems, and the discovery of DBs in them was only a matter of time. Experimental studies of DBs encounter major technical difficulties, leaving atomistic computer simulations as the primary investigation tool. Despite

This paper explores the potential for simplicity to reveal new biological understanding. Borrowing selectively from physics thinking, and contrasting with Crick's reductionist philosophy, the author argues that greater emphasis on simplicity is necessary to advance biology and its applications.

Reports on experiments conducted on two biological clocks, in organisms in the plant and animal kingdoms, which indicate that biological oscillation can be arrested by a single stimulus of a definite strength delivered at the proper time. (GS)

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Reviews major developments in areas that are at the cutting edge of biological research. Areas include: human anti-cancer gene, recombinant DNA techniques for the detection of Huntington disease carriers, and marine biology. (CW)

Reports on experiments conducted on two biological clocks, in organisms in the plant and animal kingdoms, which indicate that biological oscillation can be arrested by a single stimulus of a definite strength delivered at the proper time. (GS)

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND LANGUAGE IS EXPLORED IN THIS VOLUME. THE AUTHOR BELIEVES THAT "LANGUAGE IS THE MANIFESTATION OF SPECIES-SPECIFIC COGNITIVE PROPENSITIES. IT IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE BIOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES THAT MAKE A HUMAN TYPE OF COGNITION POSSIBLE." IN ATTEMPTING TO "REINSTATE THE CONCEPT OF THE BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF…

"Biology Myth-Killers" is an activity designed to identify and correct common misconceptions for high school and college introductory biology courses. Students identify common myths, which double as biology misconceptions, and use appropriate sources to share the "truth" about the myths. This learner-centered activity is a fun…

"Biology Myth-Killers" is an activity designed to identify and correct common misconceptions for high school and college introductory biology courses. Students identify common myths, which double as biology misconceptions, and use appropriate sources to share the "truth" about the myths. This learner-centered activity is a fun…

Synthetic biology is frequently defined as the application of engineering design principles to biology. Such principles are intended to streamline the practice of biological engineering, to shorten the time required to design, build, and test synthetic gene networks. This streamlining of iterative design cycles can facilitate the future construction of biological systems for a range of applications in the production of fuels, foods, materials, and medicines. The promise of these potential applications as well as the emphasis on design has prompted critical reflection on synthetic biology from design theorists and practicing designers from many fields, who can bring valuable perspectives to the discipline. While interdisciplinary connections between biologists and engineers have built synthetic biology via the science and the technology of biology, interdisciplinary collaboration with artists, designers, and social theorists can provide insight on the connections between technology and society. Such collaborations can open up new avenues and new principles for research and design, as well as shed new light on the challenging context-dependence-both biological and social-that face living technologies at many scales. This review is inspired by the session titled "Design and Synthetic Biology: Connecting People and Technology" at Synthetic Biology 6.0 and covers a range of literature on design practice in synthetic biology and beyond. Critical engagement with how design is used to shape the discipline opens up new possibilities for how we might design the future of synthetic biology.

We present an all-additive manufacturing method that is performed at mild conditions, for the formation of organic single crystals at specific locations, without any photolithography prefabrication process. The method is composed of two steps; inkjet printing of a confinement frame, composed of a water soluble electrolyte. Then, an organic semiconductor solution is printed within the confinement to form a nucleus at a specific location, followed by additional printing, which led to the growth of a single crystal. The specific geometry of the confinement enables control of the specific locations of the single crystals, while separating the nucleation and crystal growth processes. By this method, we printed single crystals of perylene, which are suitable for the formation of OFETs. Moreover, since this method is based on a simple and controllable wet deposition process, it enables formation of arrays of single crystals at specific locations, which is a prerequisite for mass production of active organic elements on flexible substrates.

Salt efflorescences strongly affect wall paintings and other monuments. The external factors governing the crystal habits and aggregate forms are studied phenomenologically in laboratory experiments. As salt contaminated materials dry, slats crystallize forming distinct sequences of crystal habits and aggregate forms on and underneath the surfaces. Four phases may be distinguished: (1) Large individual crystals with equilibrium forms grow immersed in a thick solution film; (2) granular crusts of small isometric crystals grow covered by a thin solution film; (3) fibrous crusts of columnar crystals grow from a coherent but thin solution film so that the crystals are in contact with solution only at their base; (4) whiskers grow from isolated spots of very thin solution films into the air. The main factor governing these morphologies is the humidity of the substrate. A porous material cracks while granular crystals (approaching their equilibrium forms) grow within the large pores. As the fissures widen, the habits pass into columnar crystals and then into whiskers. Because this succession corresponds to the crystallization sequence on the substrate surface it can be traced back to the same growth conditions.

Porous aggregate grains are commonly found in cometary dust samples and are needed to model cometary IR spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Models for thermal emissions from comets require two forms of silicates: amorphous and crystalline. The dominant crystal resonances observed in comet SEDs are from Forsterite (Mg2SiO4). The mass fractions that are crystalline span a large range from 0.0 25 AU at 1E6 yr) by inner disk materials (crystals) are challenged to yield the highend-range of cometary crystal mass fractions. However, in current thermal models, Forsterite crystals are not incorporated into larger aggregate grains but instead only are considered as discrete crystals. A complicating factor is that Forsterite crystals with rectangular shapes better fit the observed spectral resonances in wavelength (11.0-11.15 microns, 16, 19, 23.5, 27, and 33 microns), feature asymmetry and relative height (Lindley et al. 2013) than spherically or elliptically shaped crystals. We present DDA-DDSCAT computations of IR absorptivities (Qabs) of 3 micron-radii porous aggregates with 0.13 crystals. We can produce crystal resonances with similar appearance to the observed resonances of comet Hale- Bopp. Also, a lower mass fraction of crystals in aggregates can produce the same spectral contrast as a higher mass fraction of discrete crystals; the 11micron and 23 micron crystalline resonances appear amplified when crystals are incorporated into aggregates composed otherwise of spherically shaped amorphous Fe-Mg olivines and pyroxenes. We show that the optical properties of a porous aggregate is not linear combination of its monomers, so aggregates need to be computed. We discuss the consequence of lowering comet crystal mass fractions by modeling IR SEDs with aggregates with crystals, and the implications for radial transport models of our protoplanetary disk.

The ability to manipulate living organisms is at the heart of a range of emerging technologies that serve to address important and current problems in environment, energy, and health. However, with all its complexity and interconnectivity, biology has for many years been recalcitrant to engineering manipulations. The recent advances in synthesis, analysis, and modeling methods have finally provided the tools necessary to manipulate living systems in meaningful ways, and have led to the coining of a field named synthetic biology. The scope of synthetic biology is as complicated as life itself – encompassing many branches of science, and across many scales of application. New DNA synthesis and assembly techniques have made routine the customization of very large DNA molecules. This in turn has allowed the incorporation of multiple genes and pathways. By coupling these with techniques that allow for the modeling and design of protein functions, scientists have now gained the tools to create completely novel biological machineries. Even the ultimate biological machinery – a self-replicating organism – is being pursued at this moment. It is the purpose of this review to dissect and organize these various components of synthetic biology into a coherent picture. PMID:21064036

The ability to manipulate living organisms is at the heart of a range of emerging technologies that serve to address important and current problems in environment, energy, and health. However, with all its complexity and interconnectivity, biology has for many years been recalcitrant to engineering manipulations. The recent advances in synthesis, analysis, and modeling methods have finally provided the tools necessary to manipulate living systems in meaningful ways and have led to the coining of a field named synthetic biology. The scope of synthetic biology is as complicated as life itself--encompassing many branches of science and across many scales of application. New DNA synthesis and assembly techniques have made routine customization of very large DNA molecules. This in turn has allowed the incorporation of multiple genes and pathways. By coupling these with techniques that allow for the modeling and design of protein functions, scientists have now gained the tools to create completely novel biological machineries. Even the ultimate biological machinery--a self-replicating organism--is being pursued at this moment. The aim of this article is to dissect and organize these various components of synthetic biology into a coherent picture.

The investigation on the mechanism of nucleation and growth of crystals at organic-inorganic interfaces is crucial for understanding biological and physiological calcification processes such as the formation of urinary stones. The effects of five different amino acids on the crystallization of calcium oxalate have been investigated at pH 4.5 and 37 C in aqueous solutions in the batch type crystallizer. The products were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transfer Infrared Spectroscopy (FT/IR) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Crystal size distribution (CSD) and filtration rate measurements were done. In order to determine the adsorption characteristics of amino acids on the calcium oxalate crystal surfaces, zeta potential measurements were also done and discussed. The results indicate that in the presence of all investigated amino acids, calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM) crystals were preferentially produced, but the crystal morphology varied with amino acid types and concentrations. Various crystal morphologies such as elongated hexagonal, coffin or platy habits were observed. In the presence of all investigated amino acids, the calcium oxalate crystallized in a monohydrate form. Electrostatic/ionic interaction, different adsorption properties and special functional effects of amino acids led to find different crystal morphology. (copyright 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

A series of zirconium sulphoselenide (ZrSSe3–, where = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3) single crystals have been grown by chemical vapour transport technique using iodine as a transporting agent. The optimum condition for the growth of these crystals is given. The stoichiometry of the grown crystals were confirmed on the basis of energy dispersive analysis by X-ray (EDAX) and the structural characterization was accomplished by X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. The crystals are found to possess monoclinic structure. The lattice parameters, volume, particle size and X-ray density have been carried out for these crystals. The effect of sulphur proportion on the lattice parameter, unit cell volume and X-ray density in the series of ZrSSe3– single crystals have been studied and found to decrease in all these parameters with rise in sulphur proportion. The grown crystals were examined under optical zoom microscope for their surface topography study. Hall effect measurements were carried out on grown crystals at room temperature. The negative value of Hall coefficient implies that these crystals are -type in nature. The conductivity is found to decrease with increase of sulphur content in the ZrSSe3– series. The electrical resistivity parallel to c-axis as well as perpendicular to -axis have been carried out in the temperature range 303–423 K. The results obtained are discussed in detail.

In crystallization fouling it has been observed that during a certain initial phase the fouling is formed by a non-uniform layer consisting of a population of single crystals. These single crystals are frequently formed by inverse soluble salts such as CaCO3. During heterogeneous nucleation and heterogeneous growth an interfacial area between the crystal and the heat transfer surface occurs. The development of this interfacial area is the reason for the adhesion of each single crystal and of all individual crystals, once a uniform layer has been built up. The emerging interfacial area is intrinsic to the heterogeneous nucleation of crystals and can be explained by the thermodynamic principle of the minimum of the Gibbs free energy. In this study CaCO3 crystals were grown heterogeneously on untreated and on modified surfaces inside a flow channel. An untreated stainless steel (AISI 304) surface was used as a reference. Following surface modifications were investigated: enameled and electropolished stainless steel as well as diamond-like-carbon based coatings on stainless steel substrate. The adhesion was measured through a novel measurement technique using a micromanipulator to shear off single crystals from the substrate which was fixed to a spring table inside a SEM.

There were some disputes about the concept and mechanism of biological evolution. This paper tried to give more explanations on the key concepts. The biological adaptability was distinguished into two different concepts: biological evolution and specialization. The former was defined as the process of biologically gradual evolvement, and the latter was considered as the process of species formation at horizontal development. Moreover, a new conceptual framework was applied to the popular biological theories known by people, and the previous research results or discoveries were explained over again.

A Couette-Taylor crystallizer is developed to enhance the L-Lysine crystal size distribution and recovery in the case of continuous cooling crystallization. When using the proposed Couette-Taylor (CT) crystallizer, the size distribution and crystal product recovery were much narrower and higher, respectively, than those from a conventional stirred tank (ST) crystallizer. Here, the coefficient of the size distribution for the crystal product from the CT crystallizer was only 0.45, while it was 0.78 in the case of the conventional ST crystallizer at an agitation speed of 700 rpm, mean residence time of 20 min, and feed concentration of 900 (g/L). Furthermore, when using the CT crystallizer, the crystal product recovery was remarkably enhanced up to 100%wt with a mean residence time of only 20 min, while it required a mean residence time of at least 60 min when using the conventional ST crystallizer. This result indicates that the CT crystallizer was much more effective than the conventional ST crystallizer in terms of controlling a narrower size distribution and achieving a 100%wt L-lysine crystal product recovery from continuous cooling crystallization. The advantage of the CT crystallizer over the conventional ST crystallizer was explained based on the higher energy dissipation of the Taylor vortex flow and larger surface area for heat transfer of the CT crystallizer. Here, the energy dissipation of the Taylor vortex flow in the CT crystallizer was 13.6 times higher than that of the random fluid motion in the conventional ST crystallizer, while the surface area per unit volume for heat transfer of the CT crystallizer was 8.0 times higher than that of the conventional ST crystallizer. As a result, the mixing condition and heat transfer of the CT crystallizer were much more effective than those of the conventional ST crystallizer for the cooling crystallization of L-lysine, thereby enhancing the L-lysine crystal size distribution and product recovery.